Man Killed In Police Involved Shooting In Miami Gardens
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A man is dead after a police-involved shooting in Miami Gardens.
It happened Friday around 4 a.m. at NW 189th Street and 1st Avenue.
"It's sad in Miami Gardens. All these blue lights, I'm sad, I'm sad," said Claudette Vassels
Vassels said although she was sad, she was not surprised when she came to her street to find it taped off. She said crime in the area has resulted in increased patrols.
Another neighbor, Jazmine Toomer, told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "I heard 7 to 10 shots. I just a heard a lot of gun shots and what sounded like a car crashing. I'm just sad. That's somebdy's child and somebody will have to bury their child. I just hope everything was done right in this case."
According to Miami Gardens police, that's exactly what officers were doing when they came across a stolen car with a man inside. As officers approached on foot to talk with the driver, he stepped on the gas.
"As he attempted to flee the scene he struck one of the officers with the vehicle. In addition, I have multiple officers that fired their weapons," said Miami Gardens Police Chief Delma K. Noel-Pratt
The car slammed through the front of a home on NW 189th Street. The injured man was taken to a hospital where he died.
New video from the home shows some massive damage to the living room. No one there was injured but one woman who was sleeping inside the home at the time told D'Oench that it was a terrifying experience.
"I feel lucky," she said. "I just heard noise. I didn't hear anything. I was sleeping. But I did hear a boom, like a car crash. I got shocked. I woke up out of my bed."
"My officers acted the way they're trained. As we go further along in the investigation, you know, but I have trust in my officers," said Noel-Pratt.
Roudy Voltaire took video on his IPhone of the aftermath of the shooting. He said when police approached the stolen car, they did not have their police lights on.
"If you are going to approach a stolen vehicle, you should have your lights on," he said.
Miami Gardens Police said all aspects of the case are being investigated and could not respond immediately to what Voltaire said. But authorities have said that there are on cases when police would not be likely to put their lights on when approaching a stolen car because of not wanting to alert a suspect inside that stolen vehicle.
FDLE—-the Florida Department of Law Enforcement—-is investigating which is standard procedure in police-involved shootings.
The officer who was struck was also taken to the hospital where he was treated and released.
Vassels said it's scary to think it happened so close to home.
"That could have been my home. They could have been running away from police and ran in my house. It could have been my home," she said.
She hopes others learn that the price of their actions can be far too high.
"It's not worth it. You're going to get caught and you're going to get killed," said Vassels.
