Two armed felons under investigation by the DEA led police on a high-speed chase down U.S. 1 in southwest Miami-Dade Tuesday before both were shot and one was killed, Miami-Dade Police spokesman Roy Rutland confirmed. The incident snarled traffic for hours.
Rutland said MDPD officers were assisting DEA in an effort to apprehend the men, whom family members said were brothers, near SW 228th Street and 157 Avenue when a chase and violent confrontation ensued. After the SUV in which the men were traveling crashed and rolled on U.S. 1 near Card Sound Road, both men reportedly exited the vehicle shooting.
MDPD officers returned fire, striking both men. They were airlifted to Kendall Regional Hospital where one suspect was pronounced dead while the other remains in stable condition, according to police.
Relatives arriving at hospital told NBCMiami that the surviving brother sustained gunshot wounds to the groin.
No officers were injured in the confrontation, Rutland said. A senior police source told CBS Miami that a multi-agency task force of federal immigration agents, ATF agents and police had been targeting members of a South Dade gang for more than six months.
"This was an extremely dangerous situation from the very beginning," said the Police Benevolent Association president John Rivera.