Coconut Grove homeowners saw Gables shooting suspects run through their yards
As police K9s closed in on two men suspected in the shooting death of a man in Coral Gables earlier in the day, some Coconut Grove residents got a much-too-close-for-comfort view of the chase leading to the suspected gunmen’s capture.
And others saw only the swarm of officers descending on the area. Oliver Abreu, who owns Sun Cycling on Bird Avenue and Southwest 27th Avenue, counted close to three dozen patrol cars from three departments converged on the scene just outside his shop.
“There were so, so many police and two SWAT teams. I saw them coming out of their cars with guns and running down the street. It was a weird morning. I’ve never seen that kind of thing in six years here,” Abreau said.
Read more: Man shot dead outside Coral Gables condo. Massive response leads to capture of suspects
In their failed attempt to escape, the men, who police hadn’t named by Friday afternoon, wound up running through the yards of several homes in a northwest section of Coconut Grove.
Police said switchboards lit up with callers who claimed to have seen a man running through their property. The men were eventually captured while trying to hide in yard’s outside people’s homes, though police hadn’t given any addresses by late afternoon.
“They were on people’s properties. Miami police got lots of 911 calls,” said Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak.
None of those 911 calls about the suspects had been released by police as of Friday, but many other witness saw the the swarm of law enforcement.
Read more: What the shooting scene in Coral Gables and Miami looks like as cops swarm the area
Kathy Brana and the rest of the staff at the popular Flanigan’s Seafood Bar & Grill were preparing for Friday lunch when, they said, all hell broke loose outside their front door.
“We saw a bunch of cop cars swarm by going really fast,” she said. “It was crazy. Nobody knew what was happening. Then it was like the entire police department arrived and there was caution tape and cops in bullet-proof vests everywhere.”
The incident that led to the capture of the two men began at about 10 a.m. Friday, when police said the two suspects pulled up to man near a loading zone at 10 Aragon Ave., in Coral Gables and opened fire, killing him. A K9 officer saw the Dodge sedan take off and followed. They men bailed on Bird Avenue in Coconut Grove near Center Street.
About two hours later, after other police agencies set up a perimeter and helicopters, SWAT and K9s were activated, the two men were found hiding outside people’s homes in the Northwest Grove not far from the Flanigan’s. As of later Friday afternoon, police had not named the victim or the suspects.
