By Charles Rabin and David Ovalle
Source Miami Herald
A team of heavily armed Miami-Dade police officers shot and killed an armed robbery suspect at a Miami Springs hotel late Tuesday afternoon — a man they believe also was connected to the gunman who shot one of their own detectives a day earlier.
The suspect had an AK-47-style rifle when confronted by officers from the Special Response Team serving a search warrant at the Extended Stay America hotel, Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez said during a brief media conference outside the hotel on Fairway Drive, just north of Miami International Airport.
“The result of the confrontation: shots were fired. The subject is deceased. Officers are OK. Citizens are OK,” Ramirez said.
Investigators don’t believe the dead man was involved in the Monday night shootout where Miami-Dade Police Officer Cesar Echaverry was left in grave condition with a bullet wound to his head and the suspected shooter, a Georgia man named Jeremy Willie Horton, 32, was killed.
But Horton and the not-yet-identified man were considered suspects in a Dania Beach robbery at a convenience store earlier in the day. The connection between them: a Hyundai that Horton was driving just before he was killed in the Monday night shootout with police in Liberty City. It was believed to be the getaway vehicle in Dania Beach and had been spotted in Miami Springs near the hotel.
Ramirez said it wasn’t immediately clear if the man at the hotel had fired his rifle. “Right now, it’s under investigation,” he said.
A large police presence was visible outside the hotel Tuesday evening. Ramirez said the Broward Sheriff’s Office was leading the probe into the robbery, with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also involved in the case. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office will investigate the shooting to determine if it was a justified use of force.
The shooting happened in a room on the second floor of the east side of the hotel — from the outside, the window of the room looked damaged. The man was felled as he emerged from a bathroom, according to two sources. Police found an AK-47-style rifle in the room. A police photo later showed it on the sink, although it was unclear if he was wielding it. One law enforcement source familiar with the incident said two young children were in the hotel room when the shooting happened, and were unharmed.
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