After removing his firearm from a box and placing it on the ground, Brandon Labiner allegedly paced back and forth inside a Boca Raton parking garage for nearly an hour on Saturday afternoon before his target arrived.
Then, according to a probable cause affidavit released Wednesday, Labiner picked up his weapon and scuffled with the individual before eventually shooting him four times and fleeing the office building garage. About an hour later, after authorities descended on the crime scene, the 34-year-old suspended Florida attorney phoned his sister and brother-in-law to insist he had nothing to do with the crime—before making an interesting request.
“After their phone call with Brandon, he sent [his sister] a text asking what time they wanted to meet tomorrow…so that they could meet his cat,” the affidavit states.
ADVERTISEMENT
The document outlines new details in the Florida shooting where multiple media outlets say Labiner’s 68-year-old attorney father, Paul Labiner, was killed. Boca Police cannot reveal the name of the victim after the family invoked its right to privacy under the state’s Marsy’s Law.
In April, the Florida Supreme Court suspended Labiner’s law license after his father filed a lawsuit against him, alleging that Labiner stole about $500,000 from his stepmother’s trust account.
The saga played out in court documents detailing a devolving relationship between Labiner and his father—revealing the suspended lawyer had sat down for a disposition in the case just days prior to the shooting. On Friday, Labiner also applied for disciplinary revocation with leave of the Florida Bar.
Labiner was charged over the weekend with first-degree murder and warrant for a DUI charge he had at the time of his arrest. He is being held without bond at Palm Beach County Jail. His lawyer and his family did not immediately respond for comment.
At around 4:26 p.m. on July 1, officers arrived at the parking garage after receiving a report that shots were fired, the affidavit states. The arrest in the report corresponds with an office building where Paul Labiner’s law firm is located—and where Labiner was once an employee.
When officers arrived, they found a 68-year-old white male “in a large pool of blood with several gunshot wounds in the central breezeway” of the garage below a two-story building. The victim still had his car keys in his right hand and his phone was on the ground next to him. His wallet, which still had cash inside, was in the front pocket of his shorts. The victim appeared to have sustained gunshot wounds to his head, chest, and lower body, the affidavit states.
A male individual at the scene said that he had heard “four gunshots” about half an hour prior, but did not witness the shooting. Another woman, who found the victim after she failed to meet him for a planned Costco trip, immediately pointed to Labiner. The affidavit states that officers got in contact with Labiner’s sister and her husband, who had already been notified of the murder. And they had also already suspected the suspended lawyer.
“They suspect Brandon is the suspect because Brandon and [the victim] had a bad relationship, due to a legal battle they have been involved in regarding their law firm,” the affidavit states. “They also noted that Brandon has been under a lot of stress, because his unborn child died prior to birth and he is going through a divorce from his wife.”
Labiner’s sister also revealed that her brother had been having issues with “allegedly hacking” into personal accounts and that he was in the process of getting disbarred in the State of Florida.
“Brandon also told them a few months ago that he had purchased a firearm,” the affidavit states.
The affidavit also notes that Labiner had spoken with his sister and her husband at 5:17 p.m. on July 1 “and that he told them he had nothing to do with what happened…and stated that he doesn’t even own a gun.” The couple said that Labiner was oddly “very calm” on the phone and that he usually “sounds like he is under the influence of unknown substances.” After the call, Labiner sent the follow-up text about the feline meeting.
Investigators then began to pour over surveillance-camera footage of the parking garage, which showed a man later confirmed to be Labiner arriving at the garage around 3 p.m. on a bike. He waited there until the scuffle, which occurred out of view of the surveillance camera.
Minutes after the shots were fired, the affidavit states, Labiner is seen in surveillance footage from a nearby store leaving on his bike. Authorities later tracked Labiner’s car at his office and tried to speak to him on the phone, but he “told officers he did not wish to speak with them and provided the name and contact information of his attorney.”
The attorney eventually helped aid in Labiner’s arrest at this office. Inside the office, the affidavit states, were two dogs and a cat that had to be retrieved by Labiner’s estranged wife. Officers also found a gun cleaning kit and a piece of paper with Labiner’s lawyer’s name on it inside a public bathroom trash can in the office.
Investigators later found several items in Labiner’s car, including a rain poncho, a black drawstring backpack, a 9 mm firearm, multiple boxes of ammo, a face mask, and a box for the 9 mm gun. The ammo matches the casings left at the crime scene, the affidavit states.
