MIAMI 鈥� A slain FBI agent was remembered for her strength, infectious laugh, love of family and commitment to protecting children during a memorial service Saturday.
Agents Laura Schwartzenberger, 43, and Daniel Alfin, 36, were gunned down Tuesday while serving a search warrant at the Broward County home of a child pornography suspect. The service for Schwartzenberger was held at the Miami Dolphins' football stadium. A separate service for Alfin will be held there Sunday.
鈥淭here are no good words to make sense of a loss like this, no good words for a day like Tuesday, or like today,鈥� said FBI Director Christopher Wray. 鈥淭here's a heaviness in our hearts and a burden unlike any other, because there is nothing more devastating to the FBI family than the loss of an agent in the line of duty.鈥�
Schwartzenberger's casket was draped with an American flag as it was brought out to the field as bagpipers played. The flag was later folded into a triangle and presented to her family by Wray. She was given a 21-gun salute during the service.
鈥淟aura chose to be part of a team that spends their days in darkness confronting the very worst parts of humanity. It's a job with high stress, high emotional toll and high burnout,鈥� Wray said of the agent, who was originally from Pueblo, Colorado. 鈥淟aura never stopped. She'd talk to anybody and everybody about protecting children from predators online.鈥�
Federal government officials who attended the service with Wray were Acting U.S. Attorney General Monty Wilkinson and President Joe Biden's Homeland Security Advisor Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall.
鈥淒uring her 15 years as an FBI Special Agent, Laura Schwartzenberger was selfless, tireless, brave and committed to protecting some of society鈥檚 most vulnerable: its children,鈥� Wilkinson said in statement.
Sherwood-Randall also praised Schwartzenberger's service to the nation, calling her 鈥渁n American hero who dedicated her life to keeping our country, our citizens and especially our children safe.鈥�
The shootings marked one of the bloodiest days in FBI history in South Florida and among the deadliest nationally as well, according to the FBI
The Associated Press
