A deadly police shooting closed a major Miami-Dade street during morning rush hour
Police trying to get into a home in Northwest Miami-Dade early Thursday morning shot and killed a 22-year-old man after a five-hour standoff, police said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the man fired his gun at a Miami-Dade Police officer before he was killed. A police spokesman said he threatened police before he was shot.
“He pointed a gun. I don’t know if he was able to get a round off,” said Miami-Dade Police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta.
Police had not named the dead man or the officer who killed him by late Thursday morning and said there was no one else in the home at the time of the shooting. The incident forced the closure of several streets in the neighborhood near Northwest 103rd Street and caused morning rush-hour traffic delays. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is handling the shooting investigation.
Zabaleta said the first 911 call from inside the home at 1396 NW 102nd St. came at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“They said he was threatening people [family members] with a gun. He’s inside the house, armed and barricaded,” said the spokesman.
When they arrived, police said they found the man’s brother and father outside the home. Zabaleta said at that point, police believed the home was clear of anyone other than the gunman and officers tried to make contact with him. When that failed, SWAT was brought to the scene.
Five hours after being unable to make contact with the man inside the home, Zabaleta said, members of Miami-Dade’s Special Response Team decided to try to enter the house, fearing the man was dead or injured and needing assistance. Police had removed bars covering a window when the shooting happened. Zabaleta said he wasn’t certain if police had yet breached a window to the home.
“There was a confrontation with an armed suspect and shots were fired,” Zabaleta said.
This story was originally published February 16, 2023 at 8:06 AM.
