Posted on 01/20/2011 11:23:09 AM PST by markomalley
A shootout erupted Thursday in a notoriously crime-ridden section of Miami as a team of heavily armed law enforcement agents tried to serve a warrant, leaving two officers and a suspect dead, authorities said.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said the first officer had been shot once and died at the scene. The second officer, who was shot several times, was taken to a hospital and later died, Alvarez said. The officers and suspect were not immediately identified.
Alvarez said a squad of Miami-Dade police officers — who are part of the career criminal unit of the warrants division — was serving a homicide warrant in the city's impoverished Liberty City neighborhood.
"This unit is very well-trained, very well-armed, and highly protects itself," said Alvarez, a former police officer. "So they know what they're doing. It was just a tragic incident that we see here too often in Miami-Dade, of a violent suspect who could care less."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Liberty City. They should have gone to serve that warrant in a tank.
If no tank was available, then you have to wonder whether serving that warrant was worth the lives of those two officers. Two good guys for one bad? Not even close to a good trade unless it’s no good guys for 10 or so bad. God Bless the officers and their families.
Prayers to the family’s of these fallen officers and all officers on the Street.
Prayers for the families of the fallen, and a quick trip to hell for the dead bad guy...
“Cannister UP!”
Liberty city is often feature on the show - “First 48” which covers murder investigations.
The place appears to be a real cesspit....
Not really surprising. SWAT tactics are pretty well known and rely on an certain element of surprise and overwhelming force. A career criminal could easily be prepared to counter this and if he had a dog as a warning it would be easy to be ready with an AK-47 or some other high powered rifle (typically cops don’t wear type III body armor so any rifle round would go right through whatever they had on). If the guy knew he was headed to prison for life or a death sentence then there is not much incentive for him to go quietly but rather going out in a “blaze of glory” would have a certain appeal.
Would have been far better for them to wait and take him down as he’s going out to buy some more beer but can’t have that when we have all this nifty Army stuff. This is yet another reason why SWAT teams should be a last resort for hostage situations and little else.
Is there any other kind of 'section' in Miami?
I hate to beak it to you, but an AK-47 is not a high-powered rifle.
As rifles go, it’s sort of ‘fair to middlin’ on the power scale.
Hard to reconcile that statement with the events ending in the death of two officers.
It's the use it or lose mentality. It's hard to see how these kind of tactics are necessary in a situation like this. Better to wait for a situation that provides the subject with less of an opportunity to resist with lethal force under cover.
Does this annoy anyone else? What would he have done if he cared less?
Prayers for the fallen officers.
On top of that, there are very few AK-47s in the US. What we have are firearms that look like AK-47s. Semiautomatic look-alikes. Of course the news media always tries to blur the distinction. I don't think we should aid them.
RIP.
It depends on what you are comparing it to, a 9mm carbine or a 22 are not going to penetrate body armor. But if you so ticky-tacky on terms what pray tell is it considered? I’ve never heard of a medium-powered rifle or low powered rifle. Perhaps I should have said most rifles.
“On top of that, there are very few AK-47s in the US.”
I can tell that you’ve never been to the hood. Real AK-47’s are very available as supplied by the Mexican Mob (we’re talking about a gang banger here after all not some red neck in Idaho). Also the semi-auto versions don’t really have a common designator like the AR-15 for the M-16/4 does so it is easier to just call it an AK-47.
May the Lord God welcome the two fallen officers who died bravely doing their jobs, 21-year veteran Roger Castillo and 23 year veteran Amanda Haworth, into his eternal presence.
The butcher’s bill. Hard to pay.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.