Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez is in critical, but stable condition after he shot himself in the Tampa area Sunday night, officials said.
The 52-year-old police director was hospitalized after suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said.
Miami-Dade Police officials said Monday morning that Ramirez was out of surgery in Tampa and remained in critical but stable condition.
Earlier this year, Ramirez had announced he would run for sheriff in 2024 to try to keep his position as head of the police department.
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According to his biography in sheriff’s campaign literature, Ramirez was raised by his grandparents - who fled the Castro regime in Cuba - and his working-class parents in Hialeah.
In 1995, after marrying his high school sweetheart and graduating from the University of Miami, Freddy joined the Miami-Dade Police Department as a beat cop.
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He then rose through the ranks working every beat from criminal and special investigations, to homicide, robbery, special victims, agriculture, street violence task force, among others.
In 2020, he became police director under then-Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. He then worked his way up from patrol duty to deputy director after working at the side of former Director Juan Perez, before he was named top cop.
The Miami-Dade Police Department is the largest in the southeastern U.S. and 8th largest in the country, with more than 3,000 sworn officers and over 1,000 civilian staff.
