Daughter Of Man Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony Killed In His Teens Disputes Self-Defense Claim

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - The daughter of the man Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony shot and killed nearly 30 years ago is disputing his claim it was self-defense.

Tony agreed to a sit-down interview with CBS4's Ty Russell after the watchdog group Florida Bulldog uncovered the sheriff's childhood incident.

The sheriff doesn't remember what led to the argument with Hector Rodriguez at his Philadelphia home 27 years ago.

"Hector pulled out a gun and threatened that he had no problem shooting me and my brother. We took off and ran into the house hoping we would be able to get away from him," he said.

Tony was just 14 years old at the time.

"He followed us into the home and, fortunately for me, I knew where my dad kept his gun and was able to grab it and shoot Hector and stop him from killing me and my brother," Tony said.

He added that he never faced a charge and was not placed in handcuffs.

Mel Rodriguez, who said she was only five months old when her father was killed, posted on Facebook a news article from the time and said "no weapon was recovered at the scene, witnesses who were there claimed my father was unarmed and while at the hospital, he didn't physically have a weapon on him"

She added that "self-defense would have been okay after the first shot, but you shot him multiple times after that. How is that self-defense if he didn't have a weapon?"

Tony said the shooting when he was a teen was a traumatic experience and explains why he didn't tell families in Broward on day one.

"You don't walk into an interview wanting to be a 14-year-old black kid who's a victim of a brutal attack on him. So I've never felt like I've needed to come into a room and try to gain sympathy from someone," he said. "I didn't want that approach nor has there ever been anything that requires me to put this on an application."

Tony was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis as the top cop of BSO after Sheriff Scott Israel was suspended over his handling of mass shootings – mainly Parkland.

Several people, including Israel, are running to unseat Tony in November.

The sheriff believes his past has been brought up because of politics.

The Broward Sheriff's Office Deputies Association gave the following statement to CBS4:

"The union is shocked to learn what happened on May 3rd 1993 involving Greg Tony. Despite being cleared, Greg Tony WAS arrested and held without bond before his case was transferred to the juvenile courts. Therefore, that information must be disclosed when applying for a law enforcement job but never was. The union will wait for the Governor to comment on this situation before taking any action. It would be hard to believe that the Governor would have selected Greg Tony to run the Broward Sheriffs Office if he had full knowledge of this entire incident prior to the January 11th 2019 appointment."

CBS4 reached out to the governor's office for his reaction, but have not heard back.