Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony failed to disclose details of his 1993 killing of a Philadelphia man to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. On Saturday, The Florida Bulldog ung Tony “shot and killed a man when he was a teenager living in a poor urban neighborhood in Philadelphia, according to records and interviews with family members of the dead man.” Tony was 14 years old when he shot Hector “Chino” Rodriguez multiple times in the head.
“When I was 14 years old, growing up in a neighborhood in Philadelphia filled with violence and gang activity, I shot an armed man in self-defense. The juvenile authorities reviewed my actions and cleared my name,” Tony wrote in an email to The Florida Bulldog. “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.”
Speaking with Florida Politics, Tony said he failed to disclose the incident to Governor Ron DeSantis before his appointment as Broward Sheriff.
“I have never disclosed it, because I was never arrested,” Tony explained.
“Under Pennsylvania law, juveniles are not arrested, they go through a petition of delinquency. 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-defense.”
REDBROWARD obtained copies of two newspaper reports of the 1993 incident. In both stories, Sheriff Tony is identified as “Gregory Scott-Toney.”
In one report, Tony’s father William Scott claimed the weapon was unloaded when Tony took it from under his mattress. Scott said Tony knew where the bullets were kept.
