Posted on 11/22/2025 5:09:29 AM PST by Libloather
A Florida sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed Friday morning, another deputy was wounded and a locksmith was left in critical condition while helping a mother evict her son from a gated home in a coastal community north of West Palm Beach, authorities said.
Deputy Terri Sweeting-Mashkow, a 25-year veteran of the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office, was gunned down inside a residence at the Bermuda Club on Orchid Island near Vero Beach.
She was one of three deputies who arrived at the home with a locksmith just before 9 a.m. to remove 37-year-old Michael Halberstam under a court order initiated by his mother, who waited outside.
Investigators said the team stepped into the entryway when Halberstam allegedly unleashed gunfire without warning, fatally hitting Sweeting-Mashkow.
Deputy Florentino “Tino” Arizpe was hit in the shoulder and escaped into the garage. The locksmith was critically wounded.
Sgt. Gary Carlos returned fire and hit Halberstam multiple times. The gunman was rushed to a Fort Pierce hospital in critical condition.
Sweeting-Mashkow, 47, had served 25 years and 16 days with the sheriff’s office.
Sheriff Eric Flowers said she was killed on what was considered a routine civil-service call.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
shouldn’t the cops have asked mom how many firearms were in the house and then taken appropriate measures? ... you know, first use bullhorns behind cover, demanding that son exit with hands visible, wait awhile, and THEN call in SWAT with all of their ballistic equipment, flash bangs, dogs, robots, special training, and such?
after all, mom was out of the house and in no danger, so there’s no real hurry ...
i have a good buddy now retired from the local sheriff’s office who said that under those circumstances they just waited until the moron came out sooner or later ... they pretty much got paid by the hour anyway and were used to waiting ...
Similar to giving CPR (life saving measures) to a bad actor they shot.
A retired NYPD detective wrote in his book (mid 1990’s) that preforming CPR pumps all the blood from the actor while giving the appearance to trying save his life.
Do you have a lot of experience in law enforcement? Done a lot of evictions? Had a lot of maniacs come at you with guns blazing? You know exactly from this short article what they should have done? Your expertise is sorely needed by all those clueless cops who have no idea how to protect themselves.
Wonder how the MOTHER feels now?? Is she going to SUE the Sheriff’s office for shooting her poor baby?? Where’s the FATHER? She/they raised a MONSTER! BAD PARENTING!
This happened one county north of us. It has hit the local area very hard.
They didn’t.
Read the article.
She might not have known. Or if she did she might have had no reason to suspect he would shoot at the deputies and the locksmith. Looking at the clerk’s website the only record Halberstam had was this eviction and a traffic citation. I don’t know what other record he might have in other counties.
However seeing how she had to get an eviction order on her own son I suspect there was bad blood between them and maybe she was not has forthcoming to the sheriff’s department as she could have been on whether her son posed a danger to them.
I am in St. Lucie so this made big news here as well.
Oh for Crissake. He was not a squatter. This had nothing to do with squatting. He was a legal tenant who was being removed as a result of a lawful eviction order.
I think you win the stupidest post on this thread award for the day.
Root issue: Moms can hook, their sons cannot.
Mom hooks for cash and prizes to sustain ‘her lifestyle’ leaving the son high and dry feeling like a “loser” and “failure”. Dad isn’t allowed in the picture to force his son to be responsible and productive so mom essentially consigns her son to death by LEOs. They should charge the mother as an accessory to the LEO’s murder.
I was wrong. I thought I had already come across the stupidest post in this thread. I had not.
Your ignorance is inexcusable. Why don’t you try doing a search on the shooting, where it happened, whom it involved, and general info on the shooter. This happened in a rather exclusive community off A1A in Vero Beach. Your description of what you think happened is way off base.
Was.
One of the first questions asked by police is often “are there any guns in the house?” The answer dictates tactics.
The house belonged to the Mother who was on premises and outside the home. How is it she did not have a key?
My assumption was the Locksmith was there to change the lock after the eviction...
“The house belonged to the Mother who was on premises and outside the home. ...
My assumption was the Locksmith was there to change the lock after the eviction...”
Possibly. But if that was the case, why was the locksmith nearby before the eviction.
“How is it she did not have a key?”
She left it inside?
REally??? We will see.
Hi neighbor! It was not a cheap neighborhood. I’m sure it was a gated community. Near the Beach.
Where in the article does it say she did not have a key?
Where in the article does it say the locksmith had to open the door?
My assumption is either the mother or the police requested the locksmith to be present. Whether it was to gain entry or change the lock after the son was removed is anyone’s guess.
The mother has called police reporting the son’s erratic behavior several times before. So my assumption is they both lived there, which would mean both her and her son had keys to the property. She wanted him out and wanted the lock changed after he was removed.
Without further information it is anyone’s guess. Why you are making a big deal about assumptions based on unclear reporting of the situation is anyone’s guess as well.
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