MIAMI (WSVN) - Police responding to a theft in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood quickly found themselves in a tense situation when they discovered a woman on the roof of a building with a stolen gun.
Officers set up a small perimeter on Northeast Seventh Avenue between 29th Terrace and 31st Street at around 9:30 p.m., Monday, while they attempted to de-escalate the situation and get the woman down from the top of a luxury high-rise. According to Miami Police, she stole a gun from a person she knew.
The woman ultimately jumped from the roof of the building, which was at least seven stories high. She was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition but later succumbed to her injuries on Monday morning.
Despite the efforts of police to bring the situation under control, witnesses said they heard screams and saw the woman jump off the building.
Neighbors reported hearing two gunshots, but police confirmed that they did not open fire during the incident.
“I was walking my dog with my wife here in the park, and then we heard a big gun blast,” said one witness. “It sounds like could be fireworks but a little different, and so it spooked everyone for a second, and everyone went back to their business, but then there was a second one.”
He continued to describe the event that unfolded and recalled police officers arriving on the scene.
“Then after that, there were some police cars driving around and scoping out the area with a spotlight,” he said. “Eventually, one police officer gets out of the car with his automatic weapon drawn and, so now it got real.”
Some witnesses speculated that the woman may have experienced a mental health episode, while others believed she was involved in criminal activity.
The Miami Police Department has not released the woman’s name or any further details regarding the investigation.
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