Three men are in custody after a bizarre police pursuit involving cops on land chasing suspects in a boat ended in Kendall Thursday morning.
The chase began around 1:20 a.m. at a canal in the area of Southwest 8th Street and Southwest 74th Avenue near the Palmetto Expressway after an off-duty officer who lives in the area heard gunshots coming from the boat, Miami-Dade Police spokeswoman Rosanna Cordero-Stutz said.
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According to Cordero-Stutz, officers chased the small fishing boat for several miles, riding along the canal in police cruisers. Along the way officers would stop at bridges and tell the boaters to stop and pull over to the bank, but the suspects refused, police said.
Cordero-Stutz said the suspects shot at officers on the bridges and were firing indiscriminately, endangering people who live along the canal. At one point officers fired at the suspects and one of them suffered a minor injury when he was grazed by a bullet, Cordero-Stutz said.
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With a police helicopter following the boat from the air and dozens of officers following on the ground, the suspects finally pulled over nearly an hour after the chase began and were taken into custody in the area of Southwest 112th Avenue and N. Snapper Creek Drive.
Police found at least one weapon in the boat, which was outfitted with a small pirate flag, Cordero-Stutz said.
"Unfortunately, at this time we don't know what the mentality was or what it was that they were doing out here," Cordero-Stutz said.
The suspects haven't been identified and charges are pending. No officers or residents were injured, Cordero-Stutz said.
"The community is great danger by shooting at the officers in such a manner," Cordero-Stutz said.
One resident of the area heard the gunshots.
"I thought someone was trying to get into my community and shot at a security guard. That's what I thought," said Helys Abraham.
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