Five cops return fire, kill man on steps of Homestead City Hall, police source says
A man was shot dead by police early Sunday morning on the steps of Homestead City Hall after he led them there during a foot chase and shot an officer in the pocket, police said.
The officer was not injured, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the incident. The bullet fired from the suspect’s gun ricocheted off a wallet in the officer’s pocket, the source said. Fire rescue treated the Homestead officer on the scene and released him.
Miami-Dade police, the investigating agency in the shooting, identified the dead man Monday as 27-year-old La Garion Lamar Smith. Police did not release the names of any of the five Homestead officers who fired their weapons.
Steadman Stahl, president of Miami-Dade’s Police Benevolent Association, confirmed the officer was not injured during the shootout.
“There are going to be cameras all over City Hall,” Stahl said.
Police said the initial call came from a woman in a home not far from City Hall, who claimed a man had broken into her home with a gun. Police believe the two knew each other, though weren’t sure to what extent.
Police said they found him a short while later on the Busway not far from Homestead City Hall at 100 NE Civic Ct. When police ordered him to stop, the man ran toward the government center and fired at police — before the five officers returned fire, the source said. Miami-Dade police said they recovered a weapon at the shooting scene.
It was the second police-involved shooting by a Homestead police officer in the past two weeks.
On Dec. 21, a Homestead police sergeant chasing a suspected burglar shot and critically injured the man after a brief car chase. The sergeant, 17-year veteran Jose Murillo, fired his weapon from inside his damaged vehicle and struck Maynor Cruz-Solis, 22, who was in another vehicle, twice in the face.
Miami-Dade police are also investigating that shooting.
This story was originally published January 3, 2021 at 11:41 AM.
