MIAMI (WSVN) - A woman was fatally shot following an altercation with police officers in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood, authorities said.
According to City of Miami Police, the officer-involved shooting occurred near Northeast Second Avenue and 25th Street, early Wednesday morning.
Miami Police officers and crime scene investigators were at the scene to probe the circumstances of the confrontation.
Investigators said the victim is a 37-year-old Hispanic female.
According to Hamid Hamidi, a witness who called 911, the situation escalated rapidly after police responded to a distress call from him. He reported that his roommate had threatened him with a knife.
“She had a knife that I felt threatened with, and that wasn’t the first time she had a knife in her hand,” said Hamidi. “It was surreal. It is something I would never want anybody to witness.”
Detectives said three officers responded to the scene and made contact with both the victim and the female roommate.
At one point during the conversation, police said, the female roommate armed herself with a knife, refused repeated requests from officers to drop the weapon and then charged toward the officers, leading to two officers firing their guns.
“Three cops were just having a conversation with the girl, and then, all of a sudden, she charged at them,” Hamidi told 7News. “She charged at them with a knife. I could see it in the shadows. That’s when they had to defend themselves, because they did give her many warnings of, you know, stopping and, ‘Please, do not come forward’ and all of that. Regardless, she charged at them, and she was shot.”
Hours after the shooting, Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales shared the same story.
“At one point, she charged at the officers with a knife, the officers discharged their firearms, and the 37-year-old Hispanic woman was pronounced deceased later on at [Jackson Memorial Hospital],” he said.
A total of three officers were inside the apartment. Two of them fired their weapons.
“The officers had absolutely no intent when they responded to call that their actions would cause someone their life, but I can tell you that our officers are trained, time and time again, to take every possible action to avoid the loss of life,” said Morales.
Hamidi also added that his roommate, who he has only been living with for about a month, had mental health issues.
“The moment this happened, I instantly regretted it. That was just the human side of me regretting me to call the cops, but I don’t know how it could’ve ended if I didn’t,” Hamidi said.
Witnesses told 7News they heard around three to four gunshots in the early morning. One witness said she immediately knew it was gunfire and not fireworks.
“Heard three gunshots, ‘pow, pow, pow,'” said a witness.
“I came to check out and saw mad cops coming down the street,” said another witness.
The woman’s landlord, Octavio Pino, shared some kind words.
“She was a normal person, I liked her, she [was] very respectful with me. She always paid her rent,” he said.
Authorities confirmed that no police officers were injured during the incident. The officers have been placed on administrative duties.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has taken charge of the investigation, which remains ongoing.
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