Sheriff admits he killed a man when he was 14

‘I worked every day from that time forward to leave the violence that surrounded me behind’

A senior police officer has admitted that he killed a man when he was 14-years-old, despite not mentioning it in his job application for his current position.

Broward County sheriff Gregory Tony, who became sheriff in 2019, after Scott Israel was suspended from the position, admitted to the killing after a report that was released on Saturday claimed he killed a man in 1993.

Mr Tony said he shot and killed 18-year-old Hector Rodriguez in “self defence”, after he attacked him and his brother outside their home in Philadelphia.

“Unfortunately, we had a dispute with him — my brother and me — in front of our home and he made threats to kill us and he literally pulled out a gun,” he said in an interview with Local 10.

“He had no problem with shooting us right there,” the sheriff in south Florida added.

Mr Rodriguez’s then-girlfriend, Maritza Carrasquillo, disputed this claim and told the Florida Bulldog that she believes he was not armed that day.

“Hector didn’t have a weapon on him that I’m aware of, and I never saw him with a weapon,” she said.

In a statement, Mr Tony told the publication that he hadn’t brought the incident up before, because he was cleared of any wrongdoing.

“The juvenile authorities reviewed my actions and cleared my name,” he said. “This was the most difficult and painful experience of my life and I have never spoken of it publicly.

“I worked every day from that time forward to leave the violence that surrounded me in Philadelphia behind.”

Mr Tony added to Florida Politics that the incident didn’t come up during any background checks, because he was never arrested for the incident.

“Under Pennsylvania law, juveniles are not arrested, they go through a petition of delinquency,” he said.

“It never came up on my background checks or clearances, since I was a juvenile and I didn’t commit a crime, as it was self-defence.”