NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Police shooting at what they thought was an armed and dangerous driver during a traffic stop, but it was actually an undercover officer.
It was pure panic over police radios as a Miami-Dade officer opened fire on an undercover officer, after the agency was called out to help an investigation stemming from Miami Beach.
“The subject’s on the right! They’re shooting at blue! Subjects on the right! Right here!” said an officer over police radio.
It happened Wednesday night, near the intersection of Northwest 111th Street and Seventh Avenue.
Officers were seen with guns drawn on a vehicle with special response teams in tow after Miami Beach Police called on Miami-Dade officers to help them with a traffic stop.
Officers were looking to arrest Diori Barnard Jr., for the June 30 killing of 32-year-old Darnell Williams.
An arrest warrant states Williams was found with a gunshot wound to the back of the head inside a crashed car near 14th and Collins Avenue.
Fast forward to this week, when Miami Beach Police followed Barnard to this intersection and called on Miami-Dade for assistance.
Miami-Dade Police said the officer spotted what they believed was a suspect with a gun.
That misidentified suspect was an undercover officer.
“You hear on that radio a lot of confusion in the beginning because there is a lot going on,” said MDPD Detective Alvaro Zabaleta.
No one was injured in the shooting, but when 7News pressed the detective immediately after, even MDPD appeared unsure if that undercover officer was fired upon.
“Anytime there is a firearm discharged, clearly that heightens the adrenaline for everyone around them,” said Zabaleta. “That’s why that information is not clear when you hear it on the radio, when you hear that initial discussion.”
As for Barnard, the 22-year-old appeared in bond court Thursday. He has been charged with murder in the second degree and held without bond.
It remains unclear if the suspect ever opened fire on an officer.
As of this time, MDPD have only confirmed that their officers opened fired.
It is also unknown at this time what agency the undercover officer works for.
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