3 are in custody after shootout with Miami cop, and police are searching for 3 others
A Miami police officer barely escaped serious injury early Friday morning when a gunman got out of a car and opened fire. Several rounds struck a Taser the officer had attached to her belt, police said.
The officer, in an unmarked car and wearing a tactical robbery unit outfit, was not injured. She returned fire and grazed the neck of one of the people in the white Nissan Sentra she had stopped.
According to police, when the suspects jumped back into the car and took off, other police cruisers in the area gave chase.
Eventually, three suspects were taken into custody and three others remained on the run Friday morning.
Deputy Miami Police Chief Ron Papier said the officer, who hadn’t been identified by mid-morning Friday, was “luckily uninjured.”
It wasn’t immediately clear why the officer stopped the Nissan. City of Miami residents remain under a nightly curfew during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Police did not say if the detective had turned on the emergency lights on her unmarked car or identified herself as a police officer before the gunfire started.
According to Miami police, the confrontation began just after 2 a.m. near the corner of Northwest 22nd Avenue and 54th Street in the Brownsville neighborhood just west of Liberty City. The detective, a member of the city’s tactical robbery investigation unit, escaped injury, though her Taser was damaged and several bullets struck her vehicle, police said.
By late Friday morning none of the suspects who had been taken into custody had been identified. The suspect who was shot by the detective was being treated at a hospital for non-life threatening injuries, police said.
Police continued to search for the three missing suspects Friday morning. As dozens of police cruisers patrolled the northwest section of Miami, police blocked off streets between Northwest 17th and 22nd avenues and 46th and 52nd streets.
Police, helicopters and K-9 units were combing the area for clues, evidence and for the three other people police believe were involved in the shooting. Multiple agencies, including Miami-Dade police, are assisting Miami police with the investigation.
The road was shut down for several hours and drivers were asked to avoid the area and seek alternate routes.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is also investigating the shooting, as is protocol when officers are involved. Anyone with information that can help with the investigation is asked to call police.
Miami Herald staff writer Charles Rabin contributed to this report. This article will be updated once more information becomes available.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 7:11 AM.
