She was a single mom who worked her way up from being a police service aide to a Lauderhill officer. He was a single dad when they met in 2006, soon after he was hired to join the force’s road patrol.
They briefly dated, but days ago she broke it off. That’s when, officials say, he tried to kill her by emptying his .40-caliber pistol into her patrol car.
Before the night was over, Kristopher Bieger, the 30-year-old son of a retired Hallandale Beach cop, would beg fellow officers for just one more bullet so he could kill himself, according to police.
Now a traumatized Brittny Skinner, whose shirt and protective vest were left with bullet holes, is on paid leave. And Bieger is in jail on attempted-murder charges, suspended without pay from the job he held for five years.
“This incident definitely tears us apart,” said Lauderhill Police Capt. Constance Stanley about the impact of the shooting on the force’s 120 sworn officers. “There are a lot of mixed feelings because each of the officers has friends in the department.”
Both Skinner, 31, and Bieger patrolled Lauderhill’s eight square miles on the midnight shift. The two began seeing each other socially, but it did not go well. They argued, according to a court document, there was jealousy and mistrust, and phone calls that pushed Skinner to break up with Bieger.
When she told him last week that it was over, Bieger “began to cry uncontrollably” and begged her to take him back, according to a police report.
Skinner “made it very clear” to Bieger “that she was no longer interested in dating him,” according to police.
But Bieger could not let it go, police said. He called Skinner obsessively. And abouot 7:30 p.m. Saturday, after she rebuffed him yet again, he found her working her off-duty security job at the Inverness Plaza near Northwest 56th Avenue and Oakland Park Boulevard, just six blocks from the police station.
According to police and a court document, Bieger drove his silver 2006 Chevy Silverado pickup truck to the plaza, saw Skinner sitting in her patrol car, and opened fire, emptying his Glock pistol of all 10 rounds. The trunk, rear driver’s side door and window took most of the shots.
But at least one bullet went through the patrol car seat, through Skinner’s police uniform and into her protective vest, police said.
After the shooting, the shaken Skinner radioed for help even as she raced west to find sanctuary at the police station. “She thought she was going to be killed,” said Stanley.
Bieger also sped away, driving 16 miles south to the Regency Square Plaza at Griffin and Volunteer roads in Davie, officials said. He was familiar with the plaza because he had once worked in the Publix supermarket there, police said.
Until then, it had seemed like a routine Saturday night at Donato’s Ristorante, owner Donato DiLeo said of his pizza restaurant several doors from the Publix.
About 9 p.m., an agitated Bieger walked in and ordered two pizza slices to go. While waiting, he paced in front of Donato’s, carrying on an animated cellphone conversation.
“He seemed really nervous,” said waitress Justine Bonito, 23.
Bieger paid inside, took his slices and went back out, Bonito said. At that point, police called the restaurant and told DiLeo to lock the front door, go in the back and stay down.
Minutes later, two Davie officers and a heavily armed SWAT team poured through the back door of the restaurant while DiLeo, five employees and a customer ducked down next to the stoves.
“It was like a movie,” said DiLeo, 60, of the ordeal that later ended up on YouTube. “It was kind of scary.”
What the police knew: Bieger had told his family members what he had done, and that he was suicidal. He asked two fellow Lauderhill officers to bring him another bullet so he could kill himself, a court document states.
During the three hours between the shooting and Bieger’s arrest outside the pizzeria, he made dozens of phone calls to family members, friends and fellow officers, police said.
An empty Glock pistol was found in his truck.
Stanley, who supervised both Skinner and Bieger, said “nothing of this magnitude” had happened before. “It’s quite disturbing.”
There are no dating restrictions for Lauderhill cops who are of the same rank, she said.
Despite Skinner’s alleged problems with Bieger after the romance soured, Stanley said, “To my knowledge there were not any complaints made to Lauderhill P.D.” about him.
In court Monday, Bieger’s lawyer, Alberto Milian, cited the law-enforcement backgrounds of his client and his family’s ties to the community. He said Bieger peacefully surrendered to investigators and, based on what he said was his client’s clean record, sought to obtain pre-trial release.
Broward Court Judge John “Jay” Hurley denied the request and banned contact between Bieger and Skinner, directly or indirectly.
“If any calls are made to her from the Broward County Jail, I will cut off your phone privileges,” Hurley told Bieger. “You’ve made many, many phone calls to Ms. Skinner.”
Milian said Monday night that he would enter a not guilty plea on behalf of Bieger, who was also charged with discharging a firearm from a vehicle.
“Under the law, he’s presumed innocent, and we should wait to see what happens,” Milian said. “The family is devastated by this turn of events, and is praying for everyone.”
Sun Sentinel staff researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.
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