Florida Police Officer Dead, 2 Others Injured After Attempt to Evict Son from a Mother’s Home at Her Request By Kimberlee Speakman 35

A Florida deputy is dead and two others were injured after attempting to serve an eviction notice at a home. 

Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers shared in a press conference that one of the department’s deputies, Terri Mashkow, 47, was killed while responding to a “standard call of service” for an eviction in Bermuda Club, a gated community in Vero Beach, Fla., on Friday, Nov. 21.

He said Mashkow had been there with two other deputies and a locksmith after receiving a call from a resident of the home who was evicting her son, identified as Michael Halberstam.

“While they were in the entryway, having just made entry into the home, Mr. Halberstam retrieved a weapon and he began indiscriminately firing on our deputies on scene,” Flowers told reporters at the press conference. 

“[Deputy] Terri Mashkow… made the ultimate sacrifice today and was killed in the line of duty inside of that residence,” he added.

Flowers said that another deputy was “shot in the shoulder,” while the third was unharmed, but fired his gun. The locksmith who went to the residence with the deputies was also injured and was transported to the hospital in critical condition. The locksmith was undergoing surgery, Flowers said.

The sheriff noted that Halberstam, who previously had a narcotics charge in 2006 and a misdemeanor charge out of Virginia in 2015, was also injured in the incident and was transported to the hospital in critical condition.

Officers identified “strange posts on social media” from Halberstam prior to the incident including “negative items” about the sheriff’s office, according to Flowers. He noted that they also received “six calls” within a month from his mother.

Flowers said Mashkow, who served with the IRCO for 25 years, “gave her life to this community,” adding that she would be remembered as someone who “had a beautiful heart.”

“She will be missed,” an emotional Flowers said.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also addressed the incident during a separate news conference, saying, per ABC News, “There is a lot going on. Just know Florida Department of Law Enforcement is engaged, working with the sheriff and the local community. We will hope for the best results of that.”

The FBI said in a post on X that Mashkow is survived by her husband and daughter. 

“The FBI sends our prayers and condolences to Deputy Sheriff Mashkow’s family, friends, and colleagues left behind. They will have our full support,” the post read.