Man accused of shooting at federal agents, detective during stakeout in Miami Gardens
A man is jailed after feds say he fired at agents during a drug trafficking stakeout that turned deadly in Miami Gardens.
On May 30, agents with the FBI, US Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms — as well as Miami Gardens police detectives — were surveilling parts of the city “in an effort to increase law enforcement presence in locations that have seen recent spikes in illegal activity.”
That same day, they ended up staking out a home on the 16000 block of Northwest 27th Place that they suspected was linked to drug trafficking, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of Florida.
Agents encountered Philip Marsh, a 21-year-old now accused of assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm, the document states. They witnessed Marsh, two adult men and a 17-year-old girl enter a gray Nissan.
The agents then tailed the car.
When the Nissan was returning to the surveilled house sometime later, the filing indicates a silver Chrysler minivan closely followed the car. That’s when the ATF agent and Miami Gardens detective inside the minivan say Marsh stuck his upper body out of the rear passenger’s side window, pointing a gun at them.
Seeing a flash, they radioed in “shots fired” and “he shot at our vehicle,” according to the complaint.
The Nissan’s driver turned into the home’s driveway before it rammed into a fence, court documents say. Then they drove it into the backyard before getting stuck between the home and a chain link fence.
After a brief foot chase, investigators detained Marsh and the others who were in the car. At one point, however, another man appeared near the Nissan.
The man, according to the complaint, appeared to shoot at agents, who returned fire and killed him. He wasn’t named in court documents, though loved ones have identified him as 27-year-old Daniel Lewis.
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Angela Lewis, the mother of Lewis, said her son was inside the home unaware of what was happening when his sister bailed from the car and ran into the home through a rear door as law enforcement officers approached on the front lawn.
Lewis said her son likely grabbed a gun before running outside but was adamant that he didn’t fire the weapon. She said she watched him get shot and saw him “take his last breath.”
When questioned a day later, Marsh said he and the trio in the Nissan were headed to the store when they noticed several vehicles following. Marsh told agents he believed the cars “belonged to persons in the area who intended to harm him.”
He admitted to shooting his gun, but maintained that he fired a round up into the sky “as a warning shot.” He also said it was possible that a bullet struck the minivan’s hood or bumper.
At the scene, investigators found a handgun — which Marsh said he used and later threw out while running away — as well as several 9mm shell casings and a single spent casing outside of the Nissan’s back windshield.
Marsh is being held at the federal detention center in Miami as of Tuesday afternoon.
