Flags were at half-staff at police precincts across South Florida Friday, a day after two Miami-Dade officers were shot and killed in a shootout with a suspect wanted for murder.
With heavy hearts, officers are mourning the deaths of fellow cops Roger Castillo and Amanda Haworth, both veteran detectives in the county.
The shootout happened at a Liberty City duplex around 11 a.m. Thursday, as a multi-agency task force attempted to serve a warrant on 22-year-old Johnny Simms, who police described as a violent career criminal who was wanted in a 2010 murder.
When the task-force arrived at the home in the area of Northwest 7th Ave. and 69th St., Simms, who also goes by Sims, was armed and intent on not going back to prison.
Castillo, 41, a 21-year veteran of the force was killed at the scene. Haworth, 44, a 23-year veteran, was critically injured in the gunfight and was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she later died on the operating table.
A steady wave of officers came to the hospital late into Thursday night to grieve and lend support to the Castillo and Haworth families.
Haworth, of Miramar, was a single mother of a teen son. Castillo, of Davie, left behind a wife and three young children.
American flags were draped over their bodies as the officers were taken from the hospital to the morgue late Thursday.
"Our worst nightmare is visited on us again today. We lost Roger Castillo and Amanda Haworth. They were murdered," Miami-Dade Police Director James Loftus said Thursday. "Two angels from our Police Department were murdered today and I am angry about it."
Simms was killed at the scene by Officer Oscar Placencia. Also injured at the scene was Detective Deidre Beecher. All of the officers, who are part of a four-person warrant squad that worked with U.S. Marshals, were wearing body armor.
"This unit is very well-trained, very well-armed, and highly protects itself," said Mayor Carlos 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."
Witnesses who were nearby said they saw Simms alive, arms raised toward the sky, asking for forgiveness as he lay dying on the ground.
Loftus said Simm's rap sheet is five pages long and he had just been released from prison on robbery and drug charges.
"That guy is evil, he murdered two of my people today," an emotional Loftus said.
The last time two officers were killed in the line of duty on the same day was Nov. 28, 1988, back when the agency was still Metro Dade Police. Officers Richard Boles and David Strzalkowski were killed with their own guns during a struggle with parolee Charlie Street.
