SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Three suspects, including two teens, are waking up in jail after a police chase led to a police-involved shooting, Wednesday.
Two schools were placed on lockdown, Mays Conservatory and Pine Villa Elementary School, in the area of the Goulds neighborhood, after Miami-Dade police set up a perimeter in the area of Southwest 115th Avenue and 224th Street. Police searched the area for hours before they had all three suspects in custody.
Police confirmed it all began at around 12:30 p.m., when an officer tried to pull over a white Kia suspected of being involved in car-jacking, in the area of Southwest 124th Street and 112th Avenue, but the driver took off. There were three subjects — all believed to be teenagers — inside that car.
When the car got to Southwest 116th Avenue, one of the teens bailed out, and a police officer fired a warning shot, when he puled a weapon and pointed it in the direction of an officer. It is unknown if that teen is one of the two currently in custody.
The other two teens later jumped out of the car at the of Southwest 115th Avenue and 224th Street. Another officer, with Miami-Dade Police, fired at a 16-year-old male, when he pulled out a weapon and aimed at the officers. The 16-year-old took a bullet to his leg and is now at Kendall Regional Center. The other teen fled.
Police eventually took one of the other two teens into custody. The SWAT team and K-9 officers were called to the scene to find the third subject, who Miami-Dade Police later said, was apprehended, sometime around 7 p.m.
Laverne Woods said she was a witness to the ordeal. “I heard a lot of gunshots,” she said.
When asked what she did upon hearing the gunfire, she responded, “[I] stayed in the house until everything calmed down.”
Witness Lawrence Glover believes it is just a bad situation. “Young kids today, they’re coming up, and they’re doing things they should not be doing,” he said. “The first thing they turn to is weapons.”
Others echoed Glover’s feelings. “I’m extremely concerned that this can happen in this neighborhood and that it involved once again, young people,” said Miami-Dade County District 9 Comissioner Dennis C. Moss.
John Rivera, the president of the Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association, spoke about the officer’s decision to shoot. “We’re seeing violent streets almost taking the lives of police officers. The police officers reacted beautifully, and thank God no officers hurt.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shootings.
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