INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. — The Indian River County Sheriff's Office is investigating the circumstances that led to Friday's deadly shooting while mourning the loss of Sgt. Terri Sweeting-Mashkow.
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Sweeting-Mashkow was serving an eviction notice Friday morning along with Deputy Florentino "Tino" Arizpe when the man they were attempting to serve retrieved a weapon and opened fire. Sweeting-Mashkow and locksmith David Long, who was accompanying law enforcement, were killed. Arizpe was injured and released from the hospital over the weekend. A third deputy, Sgt. Gary Farless, was present but not injured.
Michael Halberstam, the suspected gunman, was also shot when the deputies returned fire. He died Saturday.
Our investigative team has uncovered new details about the suspected gunman's troubled relationship with his mother, who according to court records was trying to evict her son, in the weeks leading up to the tragedy.
Sheriff Eric Flowers said Friday that Halberstam was not on investigators' radar prior to the shooting. However, Flowers revealed there were seven calls to the house Halberstam shared with his mother earlier this month.
All of the calls were placed by Halberstam's mother regarding her attempts to evict her son, according to the sheriff.
About two weeks before Friday's shooting, on November 5, Halberstam posted a roughly 6-minute audio recording on his Facebook page. The recording captures him arguing with a woman who identifies herself as his mother.
"I feel threatened by you," she tells her son in the recording, stating multiple times that she wants him to leave.
She can also be heard calling 911, telling the dispatcher she'd like law enforcement to remove Halberstam from the home because he refuses to go.
She tells the dispatcher that her son "hears things" and has what she called "mental issues" — something Halberstam denies in the recording.
When the dispatcher asks if Halberstam had any weapons, his mother replies that she hasn't seen one, but "I don't know what's in his bedroom."
WPTV has reached out to Halberstam's mother but has not heard back.
Flowers said Friday that the real-time crime center is working to find out as much about Michael Halberstam as they can.
The sheriff told us he won't be doing any interviews until after Sergeant Terri Sweeting-Mashkow is laid to rest next week.
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