Two people including a suspect are dead after a fatal shooting led to a SWAT standoff and shootout at an apartment complex in southwest Miami-Dade early Friday, officials said.
Miami-Dade Police officers and the department's Special Response Team swarmed the complex in the 19800 block of Southwest 114th Avenue after the shooting happened around 10:15 p.m. Thursday.
Miami-Dade Police later confirmed shooting 25-year-oldnDonovan Watson, who had been barricaded inside his apartment for hours.
It started when police say he shot a neighbor about 10 o’clock last night.
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Police said it appeared the suspect randomly shot a neighbor at the complex. The 39-year-old victim was shot multiple times and died from his injuries at a local hospital.
"This individual was a random person who happened to be walking toward his apartment, returning from work," Miami-Dade Police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta said. "So it was a random victim that this subject shot and killed."
Family members identified the neighbor as Jean Gutierrez, who was from Cuba. They described him as shy, innocent and full of life.
After the shooting, when the suspect saw officers responding, he ran inside and became barricaded inside an apartment at the complex, officials said. At one point, police were seen trying to ram through a window or doorway.
Police said negotiators spent hours trying to talk to the suspect, a man in his early 20s.
At one point, the suspect shot at a Special Response Team robot, disabling it, Zabaleta said.
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He later came out of the apartment and opened fire on officers, who returned fire, officials said.
"He stepped out of the apartment, opened fire, shooting at our Special Response Team, striking their vehicle multiple times, our Special Response Team returned fire, struck the individual and he was pronounced deceased on the scene," Zabaleta said.
No officers were injured.
NBC 6 interviewed a person at the scene who said the innocent man shot dead was her cousin.
“He’s a victim of violence,” she said in Spanish, adding how there should be more help to protect innocent lives from unstable people.
Officers had the area surrounding the complex closed off.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the police shooting, which is standard practice.
