MIAMI (WSVN) - A woman has died after, police said, officers were forced to return fire while serving an eviction in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood.
Miami-Dade Police officers responded to the scene at an apartment building along Southwest 12th Street and First Avenue, just after 1 p.m., Tuesday.
According to Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo Ramirez, officers who were serving an eviction letter had to fire their weapons after the woman fired shots at officers. He added the woman was a squatter in the building.
“My dad heard a few gunshots,” said resident Bianca Routt. “Then he said he went outside and, like, heard a bunch of noises and screams and then a helicopter was right outside our balcony window. He said it was alarmingly close.”
Routt said her and her family are not getting much information from the property manager.
“Saw her once on the elevator and she was kind of standoffish,” she said. “A little bit aggressive, like, not very friendly, you know.”
One resident said the woman was never a resident with a lease. They said she visited the building for a party last year and never left.
The tenants who owned the unit left as soon as the pandemic started to worsen, but the woman stayed.
They said the woman put a sign on the door claiming she would shoot anyone who tried to enter.
“This is a very touchy situation, a very dangerous situation for my officers,” Ramirez said. “As our officers made contact with the subject, the subject fired a firearm at our officers. Our officers returned fire.”
According to City of Miami Fire Rescue personnel, the woman was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where she succumbed to her injuries.
Police said the officers who forced their way into the apartment were not injured. They added one of the bullets struck a protective shield.
“I’m really sorry for the police officers,” Collier said.
“These are one of those scenarios that we always worry about, but our officers were prepared and trained,” Ramirez said. “It’s just an unfortunate outcome, but they fired at my officer.”
One man who was walking by the building at the time said he heard two gunshots.
“We didn’t know where it was coming,” he said. “We were just here. We were walking by, and then, we saw the cops, and everybody just stopped us, closing everything, saying there was a shootout.”
Police have not released the name of the woman who was killed but said she was 40 years old.
Investigators with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will handle the shooting investigation, which is protocol whenever an officer is involved in a shooting.
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