SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida couple said a man dressed in a police uniform terrorized them with a gun in the parking lot of their apartment complex, and police have confirmed the individual in question is, indeed, a police officer.
Speaking with 7News on Wednesday, the couple asked not to be identified for safety reasons.
The man said he was pulled over on Monday by someone in a white SUV with the police lights in the parking lot of their apartment complex in Southwest Miami-Dade, located off Southwest 89th Court.
“I see lights, and I’m like in shock,” he said.
The man who was stopped said the individual inside the unmarked police vehicle used a loudspeaker.
“[He said], ‘Drop the windows, or I’m gonna drop you, [expletive],'” said the resident.
The man who was stopped took a 7News crew in his truck to show what happened in the parking lot where, he said, he was first followed and ordered to get out of his vehicle.
The man said a man in a police uniform got out of the SUV and pointed a gun at him.
When asked what the uniformed man said, the man who was pulled over said, “I’m going to kill you, [expletive].'”
As for what was going through his mind at the moment, the man who was stopped said, “‘He’s gonna kill me.'”
Moments later, the man said, his wife came outside.
“My wife comes out screaming,” he said.
“I said, ‘Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing, what are you doing?’ You know?” she said.
The man’s wife said she witnessed the incident from their second-story apartment. She confirmed her husband’s account.
“He was just going like that, he was like, ‘I’m gonna shoot you, I’m gonna shoot you,'” she said as she mimicked holding and pointing a gun.
An elderly woman who lives downstairs said she also saw the interaction, and she assumed the uniformed man wearing in a light brown polo was about to shoot her neighbor.
“He was gonna shoot him,” she said in Spanish.
But as she raced down the stars, the man’s wife said, she wouldn’t have it.
“I’m like, ‘Hey, stop, stop, stop!'” she said. “‘Stop what you’re doing, stop what you’re doing!'”
As she tried to record the incident on her cellphone, the woman ran toward the action, doing all she could to get the attention of the man with the gun.
“He’s carrying a badge, he’s carrying a weapon,” she said. “He literally knew what he’s doing because his demeanor was completely aiming at my husband to shoot in the head.”
The woman’s wife said the commotion she made was key.
“He saw me that I was recording with my phone. That’s when immediately he snapped, he covered his face, he got into his vehicle,” she said.
The man’s wife is heard screaming as the uniformed man drove away in his SUV.
“I saw what the [expletive] you were doing!” she is heard yelling in the video.
The only footage she was able to record was the SUV being thrown in reverse and speeding off.
The couple said they have no idea whether the man driving was an officer or an impostor. They immediately called Miami-Dade Police.
“There’s going to be a [‘be on the lookout’] out for that car,” an officer told the couple.
Patrols and detectives showed up, and on Thursday afternoon, MDPD officials confirmed the man behind the bizarre scenario is one of their police officers, adding that there is an open internal affairs investigation. However, they didn’t specify whether the officer was on duty at the time.
7News spoke again with the wife of the man who was stopped on Thursday. She said she still has several questions for police.
“So, what’s going to happen now? Is this man already arrested? Is he already off the streets? What’s going to happen next?” she said.
The woman said she and her husband still reeling over the incident.
“What pressure could he really have been going through that put him on a position of thinking he was God, to be able to take somebody’s life?” she said.
As for what she would like to see happen to this officer going forward, the woman replied, “I’m looking for justice, just like if a civilian would have done this to an officer, they would have ended up in jail for 20, 30 years, I want the same justice.”
As of late Thursday night, the officer in question has not been arrested.
If you have any information on this incident that could help police, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.
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