NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Police are investigating after, they said, an officer fired shots at a stolen car during a traffic stop in Northwest Miami-Dade. Two men who were inside the vehicle were later taken into custody.
Miami-Dade Police officers focused their attention on a black BMW that was reported stolen, at around 7:30 a.m., Thursday.
About an hour later, investigators said, a license plate reader flagged the car parked outside a corner market in the area of Northwest 79th Street and 13th Avenue.
“As the detectives approached the vehicle, the driver began to reach under the driver’s seat,” said MDPD Detective Alvaro Zabaleta. “They were given verbal commands to show their hands.”
But police said the driver did not comply.
“The officer discharged his firearm,” said Zabaleta. “Fortunately, it did not strike anyone.”
The driver and passenger inside the car attempted to flee the scene and headed eastbound on Northwest 79th Street.
Both of the men involved ditched the vehicle a few blocks away from where the shots were fired, but police later apprehended them.
“A perimeter was immediately established, and both subjects were taken into custody,” said Zabaleta.
According to officials, both subjects were wanted by police. The driver, in particular, was on federal probation.
“He has a past of firearms, narcotics, theft,” said Zabaleta.
The stolen car removed at the spot where the subjects bailed out for most of the day, as investigators waited for a search warrant so they could look inside to see what was within the driver’s reach.
“These detectives did not know. They were confronting two individuals that already have a criminal past. Both have warrants for their arrest,” said Zabaleta. “This could have very easily gone in the wrong way.”
Police said the subjects’ names will not be released until they are booked into jail.
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