Police-Involved Shooting Leaves Two Dead In SW Miami-Dade
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A police-involved shooting near the intersection of SW 56th Street and 117th Avenue shut down traffic in the area just before 3 p.m. Friday. The road reopened just after 10 p.m.
Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta told CBS4′s Maggie Newland that the call went out as a drugstore theft in progress. When officers responded, the robbery suspects, a male and female, fled the scene as police chased. The driver of the car lost control of the car and crashed into a barricade.
Zabaleta said officers were forced to fire when things got dangerous.
"Officers at that point exited their vehicle as they were approaching the subject's vehicle. The female subject attempted to use vehicle to strike another officer. Shots were fired," said Det. Zabaleta.
Valeria Gonzalez heard the shooting.
"We were having lunch and we thought it was just fireworks, some kid setting off fireworks. We came outside and the neighbor said it was gunshots," she said.
The driver of the car died on the scene. The passenger was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
From Chopper 4, 117th Avenue was closed near the intersection and a car was on the side of the road with a yellow tarp covering both sides of the car.
More than seven hours after the shooting, police tape still blocked the street. Lucy Laguardia came home from work and was allowed to walk to her house, but had to leave her car outside the police tape.
She said her children called her after the shooting.
"They called me all frantic and scared because they saw something strange," she said, adding. "It's scary. It's very scary, too close to home."
Police have not released the names of the people who died or the names of the officers who fired but police say one had had been with Miami-Dade police for five years and the other for six.
