Country club guards stabbed 18 times in attack on golf course, two teens arrested
BOCA RATON, Fla. Feb 24 2021 Two teens are facing attempted murder charges for an ambush-style attack on two security officers at a country club near Boca Raton.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office arrested Gabriel Nelson Garcia, 16, and Dominick Latrell Garcia, 14, each on two counts of attempted first-degree murder with a deadly weapon.
According to the arrest report, the security officers, a woman and a man, suffered more than a dozen stab wounds each during the attack on Nov. 19, 2020, at the Boca Dunes Country Club.
The woman, Danielle Burton, had 18 stab wounds to her legs, stomach, arms, neck and back. According to investigators, the male security guard, David Koenes, had 12 stab wounds and needed immediate surgery.
Deputies said it happened just as Burton came off her shift at the country club for MGM Protective Services, which included patrols along the golf course.
Koenes was not scheduled to work but went along with Burton that day.
Investigators said at around 5:30 p.m., the security officers passed two men in hooded sweatshirts and medical masks.
According to the report, Burton said she made a lighthearted comment to one of the men who wore an Anime sweatshirt. Both men laughed, and the security guards moved on without any issue.
Around 6 p.m., Burton said the man in the Anime sweatshirt ran up to the security officers, asking for their help. According to the arrest report, he said someone jumped his friend on the golf course. The security guards followed the man to the edge of the bushes where the second man jumped out with a BB gun in his hand. The man in the Anime shirt yelled, “Get ’em.”
The two men attacked the security officers. Burton told investigators when the attackers focused on Koenes, he told her to get help. She said she grabbed the BB gun and ran to her car. She said she couldn’t find her cellphone so she drove back to Koenes, and by that time the attackers had already taken off. Still unable to find her cellphone, she drove to a nearby home and asked the homeowners to call 911.
Koenes told investigators during the attack he felt a phone fall out of the pocket of one of the suspects so he grabbed it. Detectives used a warrant to search the phone and traced it to Gabriel Garcia. On the day of the attack, detectives found two outgoing calls to a number saved as “Dominick.” The last phone call happened just after 5 p.m., about 90 minutes before the 911 call from the golf course attack, according to the arrest report.
Investigators said the two teens, who share the same last name but are not related, gave conflicting accounts as to what happened, and claimed a third man was involved. But investigators said the statements from the security officers showed otherwise. And due to phone records, investigators believe the two may have planned the attack.
