Cops fire on man in Midtown Miami apartment. He had an AR-15-style rifle, chief said
The man who police fired at and who was later found dead in a Midtown Miami apartment on Wednesday threatened officers with an AR-15-style long rifle before officers opened fire, Miami’s police chief said.
Chief Manny Morales said officers confronted the man from the hallway and opened fire after he opened the door to the apartment. It wasn’t immediately clear if the man returned fire or if the shots fired by either of the two officers struck and killed him.
Police found him dead inside the apartment a while later after reinforcements were called in.
“They were in the hallway. He was inside. We got a call about a suspicious male in the lobby brandishing a long rifle,” Morales said.
Police had not named the dead man or the officers involved by Wednesday afternoon. The man apparently had the ability to close and lock the apartment door before dying.
But police didn’t know he was dead for quite a while. After he locked himself inside the apartment, SWAT members who had been called in spent several hours negotiating with the man, who never responded, according to Morales. All police heard was music coming from inside the apartment. Officers finally broke through the apartment door and found the man dead.
“We knew that he hadn’t left,” Morales said.
The brief standoff began at about 3 a.m. Wednesday at a Midtown high-rise of stores, restaurants and apartments just west of Biscayne Boulevard on Northeast 36th Street and Second Avenue. People in the lobby called police to say a man in the lobby was wandering around with a long gun.
By the time police arrived at the building, the man had made his way upstairs to an apartment. It also wasn’t immediately clear if the man lived there. Police said no one else was in the apartment at the time.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the shooting since police were involved.
This story was originally published December 14, 2022 at 5:39 AM.
