Senior citizen aims gun at caretaker, barricades himself, new Miami police chief says
By Miami standards, an 80-year-old man pointing a gun at his landlord and barricading himself in his home is, well, Monday afternoon in the city. And Miami police eventually ended the situation after a few hours by shooting the man with bean bag-like ammunition.
What made Monday’s incident different was the person passing this information along to the media wasn’t a public information officer, but Miami’s new Chief of Police — Art Acevedo.
“Unfortunately this man committed an assault, didn’t discharge a firearm but aimed it and threatened a caretaker, the lady who owns the property,” Acevedo said.
Police chiefs usually give on-the-scene updates only when an officer shot someone or has been shot. But, hours after his swearing in Monday morning, Acevedo was at Northwest 48th Street and Fifth Avenue, giving the situation update, checking that he had the correct location when saying police might be in the area for a while and making a plea to the octogenarian barricaded.
“If this individual is watching, please know you’re family is out here, they love you, they care about you,” Acevedo said. “We care about you. Your neighbors care about you. Your landlord that was there cares about you. We’d like you to just come out. We promise you we’ll work with you to be respectful.
“This individual is a veteran of the United States Army served honorably. We want to get him out of here safely.”
Acevedo, who took the Miami job after a four-year stint in Houston — one of the largest police forces in the nation — noted that they would be patient in handling the situation and had evacuated several neighbors from an assisted living facility onto an air conditioned bus.
Once the man was in custody, taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital for medical evaluation.
He is facing assault charges, police said.
An earlier version of this story misstated the manner of the senior citizen’s alleged assault.
Miami Herald staff writer Carli Teproff contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 5, 2021 at 4:04 PM.
