Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
BOCA RATON, FLORIDA: A 34-year-old Florida lawyer who lost his license after being accused of stealing $450,000 from his family's trust fund has now been charged with murdering a man who was allegedly his father. Brandon Labiner was arrested on Sunday, July 2, a day after a bullet-ridden body was found in the garage of his father, Paul Labiner's office building on the 5400 block of North Federal Highway in Boca Raton.
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The heavily wounded body was reportedly found by a Labiner family member at around 4.30 pm. Police said in a statement that the victim's family invoked "Marsy's Law" to prevent the release of the victim's identity, but local media, notably the Sun Sentinel, speculated that the body was that of Brandon's father. The victim "appeared to have been shot multiple times" and died at the scene, the statement read. He reportedly had car keys in his hand and had been in the head, upper chest, and twice in his lower body. A different unidentified witness told police that "he heard four gunshots" at around 3.55 pm, but he did not witness the shooting or call 911, the affidavit said, as per Law and Crime.
Who is Brandon Labiner?
Brandon had been a personal injury attorney before his law license was suspended on April 18. The father-son duo had worked together in the same law office until Brandon was forced to resign last September. After leaving his father's practice, he started his own firm just three miles away from Paul's office.
Brandon was reportedly linked to the homicide through surveillance footage from various locations along Federal Highway. The police incident record states that after 2 pm on Saturday, July 1, a car with Brandon's license plate was seen driving in the crime scene area. A surveillance video also showed that after Brandon's car was seen in the area, a man rode up to Paul Labiner's law office on a bicycle just after 3 pm. The man in question then pulled a package and a pistol out of the drawstring bag he was wearing and started "pacing around the parking garage" after swiftly putting the rifle down. Forty minutes later, he took something from the ground and concealed it next to a wall, according to a police statement released on Monday, July 3. The suspect was then seen fighting with a second man, who is thought to be Paul. Moreover, the man with the gun was seen fleeing when the two disappeared from the camera's field of vision.
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Brandon Labiner is 'grieving his father's death'
Using the CCTV footage, Boca Raton Police were able to locate Brandon, who had locked himself inside his own law office on the 900 block of North Federal Highway. Police claimed that Brandon's attorney was successful in persuading him to leave the building and surrender himself. "A bicycle, in an open closet door, matching the description of the bicycle seen on the parking garage video surveillance," was apparently discovered inside the premises by an officer. While the cops were inside the building, they also went into the public restroom and discovered a pistol cleaning kit and a piece of paper with Rodriguez's name in the garbage near Brandon's office on the second level, according to Daily Mail.
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According to the report, during the execution of a search warrant on Brandon's vehicle, officers discovered a black drawstring bag, a 9mm magazine, many packs of ammo, a box for a pistol, a gas can, a lighter, gloves, and a face mask. It also noted an apparent attempt to destroy evidence, as a trash can was set on fire inside Brandon's office. Charged with first-degree murder, Brandon is being held at the Palm Beach County jail without bail. His criminal defense attorney, Valentin Rodriguez of Boca Raton, told the Sun Sentinel that his client is "disputing" the charges and he is "grieving his father's death."
'A fairly good father-son relationship'
Following Brandon's arrest, it was also revealed that he and his father had been in a contentious relationship for the past year, with Paul filing a lawsuit against him. The father claimed in his lawsuit that he and Brandon had "a fairly good father-son relationship" up until February 2022, when Brandon started acting bizarrely and hurt Paul "physically, emotionally, and financially." Paul also noted that his son assaulted him in May 2022, causing an injury to his shoulder, and police were called to the scene. He also accused him of stealing around half a million dollars from a trust fund in which his mother was listed as the sole beneficiary.
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