4 July 20-26, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ▼ BOCA RATON MINUTIAE OF A MURDER BRANDON LABINER ALLEGEDLY FORGED A COURT DOCUMENT SHORTLY BEFORE MURDERING HIS FATHER. BY ALEX DELUCA W hen suspended attorney Brandon Labiner arrived at the parking garage outside of his father’s Boca Raton law office on a bicycle the afternoon of July 1, surveillance footage captured him removing a box from a drawstring bag, opening it, and pulling out what appeared to be a gun, according to an arrest affidavit. The Boca Raton Police Department claims he paced around the garage for several min- utes before coming face-to-face with his vic- tim — his 68-year-old father, Paul Labiner — and fatally shooting him four times outside the building off North Federal Highway. Brandon Labiner was arrested the following day at his law office nearby. The affidavit reveals the details of the murder investigation, including how the 34-year-old University of Florida graduate’s family immediately pegged him as the alleged killer. Police claim that when contacted by offi- cers about the slaying, Labiner’s sister and her husband said they already suspected La- biner as the culprit, noting his souring rela- tionship with his father and a recent legal dispute between them. “They suspect Brandon is the suspect be- cause Brandon and [the victim] had a bad re- lationship due to a legal battle they have been involved in regarding their law firm,” the affi- davit states. “They also noted that Brandon has been under a lot of stress because his un- born child died...and he is going through a di- vorce from his wife.” In February, Labiner announced the death of his unborn son in a Facebook post, saying, “I am at a loss writing this, trying to figure out how we can move forward.” In April, the Florida Supreme Court sus- pended his law license after his father filed a lawsuit and a bar complaint against him, alleg- ing that he had stolen roughly $450,000 from a family trust account, of which he was a trustee. Court documents obtained by New Times show that the father-and-son legal dispute was heating up shortly before the murder. Among other developments, the elder La- biner accused his son of filing a bogus docu- ment to dismiss the lawsuit while masquerading as the plaintiffs in the case. “Plaintiffs believe that Brandon fraudu- lently filed the dismissal on the 15th Circuit [online scheduling system] and intentionally misled the court into thinking that it was filed by the plaintiffs,” Paul Labiner wrote to the court on May 10. The presiding judge tossed out the alleg- edly fraudulent dismissal, and the litigation was resurrected in late May. “These most recent brazen acts of fraud, misrepresentation, and misconduct are typi- cal of the prior acts of fraud and dishonesty that Brandon has exhibited,” the father wrote, pointing to his son’s alleged use of forged documents to mislead the Florida Bar in its investigation of the missing trust funds. Five days before the murder, Brandon La- biner was advised by his father that he would be interviewed in the civil case. His father sent him a notice directing him to appear on August 3 for an online deposition in the matter. On the day of the murder, around 4:30 p.m., after receiving reports of shots fired, po- lice arrived at the Boca Raton parking garage to find Paul Labiner lying inside the breeze- way in a large pool of blood with gunshot wounds to his head, chest, and lower body. (The affidavit redacts Paul Labiner’s name, citing Marsy’s Law, but several media outlets have identified him as the victim.) The affidavit states that about an hour later, Brandon Labiner called his sister and assured her that he had “nothing to do” with his fa- ther’s murder and didn’t even own a gun — de- spite allegedly telling her months earlier that he had purchased a firearm. He then texted her, asking what time she and her husband wanted to see him the next day to meet his cat. Police later tracked Labiner’s car to his of- fice and tried to speak with him on the phone, at which point he declined and provided them with the number for his attorney, who helped arrange for Labiner to exit the build- ing and surrender to police. Inside Labiner’s law office building, roughly three miles from his father’s law of- fice, police found two dogs and a cat that La- biner’s estranged wife later retrieved. Police say that in a public restroom trash receptacle at the office, they found a gun-cleaning kit and a piece of paper with Labiner’s lawyer’s name on it. More evidence was retrieved from Labin- er’s car after officers obtained a warrant. Ac- cording to the affidavit, police found a 9mm firearm, multiple ammo boxes, a gas can, and a charred trash container containing gloves and a face mask. The ammo matched the cas- ings at the scene of the murder, police claim. “Based on the trash can being burnt, the gas can, and the lighter, it appeared that these items may have been used to attempt to de- stroy evidence,” the affidavit alleges. | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Brandon Labiner Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office photo ▼ MIAMI LISTEN TO THE RADIO RIFLE-WIELDING MAN SHOT BY OFFICER HAD DIFFERENT GUN CONFISCATED HOURS EARLIER. BY IZZY KAPNICK A rifle-wielding man in a bulletproof vest who was shot by a Miami police officer early this month had another firearm confiscated by law enforcement earlier that day, a police radio transmission indicates. Responding to reports that a man was firing a rifle into the air near Little River Pocket Park, the Miami Police Department arrived at the scene on NE Tenth Avenue just south of the 79th Street Causeway a little after 8 p.m. on July 7 and con- fronted the armed suspect. One officer opened fire, striking the man in the torso. “Shots fired! Shots fired!” an officer shouted over police radio. Police “subdued the male and rendered aid” before he was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition, according to a brief media release on the incident. The Miami Police Department has not released details about what transpired in the minutes and hours leading up to the shooting. No police or by- standers were harmed in the incident. “We don’t know why the man was armed,” Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales told reporters after the incident, noting that the man did not fire directly at officers. Residents reported being shaken by the gunfire. “Heard the gunshots in my house. Never real- ized how loud those rifles are,” one woman said on social media. A police radio transmission indicates that offi- cers were familiar with the subject from an en- counter earlier in the day. “We were there ear- lier. The subject was as- sociated with a firearm. We confiscated it,” an of- ficer can be heard relay- ing over the radio at 8:15 p.m. (one minute and 40 seconds into the record- ing), moments before the suspect was shot. Pedro Labaut, a local resident who said the suspect was his brother, told WSVN that the man had been firing a pistol into the air early in the day, an account that appeared to confirm the radio chatter. “[Police] handcuffed him, and they put him in the back seat of a car. They find his gun, and then they released him,” Labaut said of the initial incident. “He shot three rounds earlier that day; they let him go. I don’t know why, and then he got shot in the back later that night instead of taking him earlier that day, the same day every- thing happened. Twice they came.” Citing an open investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Miami Po- lice Department released neither the suspect’s name nor the name of the officer who shot him. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement de- clined to comment when reached by New Times. [email protected] “HEARD THE GUNSHOTS IN MY HOUSE. NEVER REALIZED HOW LOUD THOSE RIFLES ARE.”
