March 9, 2023 A Miami-Dade police officer working an undercover narcotics operation was about to make an arrest during a traffic stop when he was approached from behind and shot.
By Devoun Cetoute, Omar Rodriguez Ortiz and Charles Rabin Source Miami Herald Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Editor’s note: A suspect in the ambush shooting of a Miami-Dade police officer has been taken into custody, according to police. The wounded officer “has been released from the hospital and is at home recovering.”
MIAMI — A police officer working an undercover narcotics operation in Miami was shot in the head area during a traffic stop Wednesday — the fourth Miami-Dade officer struck by gunfire in the past seven months.
The officer was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center was talkative and expected to survive, police said. But the shooter, a passenger in the car, according to police, took off on foot and hadn’t been taken into custody as of early Wednesday night.
Police from several agencies responded to the scene, cordoning off a large area near Northwest Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street during the busy rush hour. Police said the shooter had been a passenger in the car and that the driver was in custody. Several police sources said the officer who was shot is Darrion Washington.
“While conducting a narcotics investigation, one of my detectives was cowardly ambushed and shot from behind by a subject that is still at large,” Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez said on Twitter. “This is the fourth time I am at the hospital after an officer is attacked, I am tired of it. These attacks will not be tolerated.”
Ramirez said “the full weight of the law” would be used against anyone trying to harbor the suspected shooter. He said the injured officer was an 18-year veteran and that the bullet didn’t penetrate the officer’s skull. He described the shooter as wearing a tan shirt with a medium build.
Police were sweeping the neighborhood for the shooter, blocking off streets.
During a press conference at Jackson, where doctors were working on the injured officer, Ramirez said the officer was about to make an arrest when he was approached from behind and shot.
“This is when the community needs to step up as they always do,” Ramirez said. “If he did it to us, he could do it to you.”
Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, said the officer never had a chance to fire his weapon.
“Luckily, St. Michael is on his side and he should be released soon,” Stahl said. “The streets are crazy out there. There are some really bad guys that want to do harm, and we’re not going to surrender the streets to them.”
Washington is the fourth Miami-Dade police officer shot since August.
The series of police shootings began Aug. 15, 2022, when Robbery Intervention Detail Detective Cesar “Echy” Echaverry was killed in a shootout in Liberty City with a suspected armed robber who also died during the exchange of gunfire. The shooter had escaped a police barricade and ditched his car and took off on foot. Police chased him.
Then on Nov. 5, a 17-year veteran named Damian Colon was shot in the back of his head by an ex-girlfriend after he returned home. The officer was off-duty. Police said the woman tracked him using GPS on his vehicle. Colon survived and is still recovering from his injuries. The woman was charged with attempted murder.
The next month on Dec. 6, another RID detective was shot in the face during a traffic stop. His name was never released and he recovered quickly. The man accused of shooting him, Gabriel Gongora, was caught after a brief pursuit and has been charged with attempted murder.