Broward Sheriff’s Office Tamarac District {BSO}
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony on Friday said six deputies had been fired following the completion of a BSO Internal Affairs Unit investigation into the events leading up to and during the triple homicide of Tamarac residents Mary Gingles, her father, David Ponzer, and neighbor Andrew Ferrin in February.
Following the administrative investigation, another 11 deputies kept their jobs but have received discipline for either their “roles in the investigation of the crimes that Mary Gingles reported to detectives on multiple occasions before her death, or for the tactical response to the deadly shooting,” BSO said in a written announcement.
Allegations in the case were not sustained against two BSO employees, the agency said.
The firings follow the earlier termination of the former captain of BSO’s Tamarac District, Jemeriah Cooper.
Cooper, who took charge of the district in 2023, was demoted to deputy, placed on probation, and eventually fired in May for failing to meet the agency’s probationary standards, according to BSO.
The killings of Gingles, Ponzer, and Ferrin followed several errors made by BSO Tamarac deputies that might have kept guns out of the hands of the accused killer, Mary Gingles’ estranged husband, Nathan Gingles, authorities said.
A BSO trainee deputy who responded to the shooting call while on probation was also dismissed for failing to meet probationary standards, the agency said.
“It is painful to say this, but it is the truth – we failed Mary Gingles, David Ponzer, and Andrew Ferrin. I am heartbroken by their deaths, and I am sorry that we didn’t do what we should have done to protect them,” Sheriff Tony said Friday. “Once I learned of the potential failures in this case, I instructed our Internal Affairs Unit to conduct an exhaustive investigation and to follow the evidence wherever it led and to whomever was responsible. This is the only way that BSO can continue to grow as an agency and to maintain the public’s trust. Once IA briefed me on their findings, I was determined to hold these employees accountable for their failures.”
The IA investigation revealed that beginning in February 2024, BSO Tamarac District deputies responded to Mary Gingles’ home regarding a restraining order.
Over the course of the next several months, Mary Gingles called BSO deputies to her home to investigate separate but related domestic violence incidents perpetrated by Nathan Gingles, authorities said.
The IA investigation found that multiple deputies failed to properly investigate the domestic violence cases, according to BSO.
Nathan Gingles has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial in the triple-murder case.
“We had multiple opportunities to protect Mary during the months preceding her death when she alerted us to the domestic violence she was experiencing,” said Tony. “The deputies and detectives assigned to investigate these cases failed their training and, ultimately, failed to handle Mary’s repeated cries for help with the urgency required.”
The IA investigation also revealed that on Feb. 16, 2025, once BSO deputies received a report of the shooting-in-progress call in Mary Gingles’ Tamarac neighborhood, the sergeant overseeing the call “instructed responding deputies to meet at a rally point prior to responding to the shooting call,” BSO’s announcement states.
That decision, said Tony, was a violation of BSO’s Active Shooter policy, which states, “(D)eputies responding to active threat(s) incidents shall attempt to protect the life of innocent persons through immediate tactical intervention to eliminate the threat.”
“The public needs to know that our training is clear – responding deputies must move toward the gunfire and deal with the threat. Period,” Tony said. “There’s no staging. There’s no rally point. There’s no ambiguity. In an active shooter situation, seconds matter. They’re the difference between life and death.
“I promise this community and the families of Mary Gingles, David Ponzer, and Andrew Ferrin that we will learn from these failures. Their deaths will not be in vain.”
The city of Tamarac in a statement Friday said the killings of Gingles, 34, Ponzer, 64, and Ferrin, 36, “has left us heartbroken, seeking solace, understanding, resolutions, and answers.”
“The city appreciates the Broward Sheriff’s Office [and Tony] … for their unwavering dedication in keeping their promise to bring truth, transparency, and accountability.”
Tamarac City Manager Levent Sucuoglu last month selected BSO Captain David Franks to serve as the new Tamarac district chief.
Franks, who officially assumed the role on Sept. 6, brings nearly three decades of law enforcement experience, including 17 years in supervisory positions, according to BSO.
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