Memorial To Be Held For Former Miami-Dade Police Director
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OPA-LOCKA (CBSMiami) – A viewing is being held on Friday for the late Miami-Dade Police Department Director Robert Parker.
Parker died of an apparent gunshot wound, according to a law enforcement source close to the investigation.
Parker's family noticed that he wasn't answering his phone around 7 p.m. Wednesday night.
Around 10 p.m., Parker's two sons found their father on the ground near a call at Maxiel Thomas' home.
Woodrow Jenkins said he spoke to Parker right before he left a church and everything seemed fine.
Cecil Lamb says he's been Parker's pastor and close friend for more than three decades.
He says he's been there as Parker rose through the ranks of Miami-Dade PD, through the race riots of the 1980s and ultimately seeing him take the top spot, before he retired in 2009.
Pastor Lamb says Parker, his wife and his niece just drove back from Georgia yesterday and that Parker had said he was tired. He also had high blood pressure recently and a bloodwork appointment scheduled for today. But the Pastor says Parker's family has no clue why he would take his own life.
Community leaders are reacting to the loss of a man who spent more than 30 years in law enforcement giving back.
A U.S. Army vet, Parker spent 33 years with the Miami-Dade PD before retiring in 2009. He was the department's first African-American director. He was recently part of a team that was hired to review police procedures and practices in Baltimore following the riots in that city earlier this year.
The memorial service is being held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at New Birth Baptist Church located at 2300 NW 135th Street in Opa-locka.
