Dramatic cellphone video shows the moment officers pulled a retired Miami-Dade Police lieutenant from the roof of a home Friday after she allegedly shot at her boyfriend and barricaded herself for nearly 14 hours.
Officers responded before 6:30 p.m. Thursday to the area of Southwest 282nd Street and 167th Avenue to reports of a shooting, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department.
Police officials said Evelyn Fernandez, 44, got into a disagreement with her ex-boyfriend, who is also a former law enforcement officer. She allegedly shot at him but missed and hit his car instead. She then fled the scene. There were no reported injuries.
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A police report said the ex-boyfriend told detectives Fernandez “has been stalking him on multiple occasions." They recently ended a year-and-a-half relationship and since then, Fernandez had engaged in a course of conduct directed at the victim, which has caused emotional distress and serves no legitimate purpose, the report said.
The ex-boyfriend also mentioned that Fernandez threatened to kill his children in front of him a couple of weeks ago, the report said.
Throughout the investigation, police discovered she was barricaded inside another home in the area of Southwest 174th Street and 142nd Place. The home they tracked Fernandez to belongs to a man who’s in a relationship with Fernandez’s daughter. Detectives said she barricaded herself while her family members were inside, but they voluntarily exited and cooperated with police.
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The Miami-Dade Priority Response Team and Special Response Team responded to the barricade. Cellphone video from the scene shows officers going up in a heavily armored lift to take Fernandez out of the house's attic. The front of the house was heavily damaged by police during the nearly 14-hour standoff, and debris landed on a car parked in front.
At some point, shots were fired inside the home, but no one was hurt. Officials said Fernandez resisted arrest until they put her in handcuffs. Police said one officer did have some scratches after they tried to arrest Fernandez and she fought them back, even reaching for an officer's gun belt.
“It is a very difficult situation to come to the scenes," said Rosanna Cordero-Stutz, assistant director of Miami-Dade Police. "We try to use all of our resources at our disposal, understanding that we have a victim who suffered, who was shot at, and could have been killed. Understanding that this was a retired law-enforcement, who was the subject as well as a victim who was a law enforcement officer."
Fernandez faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, shooting/throwing a deadly missile, resisting an officer with violence, and battery of a law enforcement officer.
Nobody at the house wanted to speak Friday but throughout the night, they were patching up the roof and cleaning up the mess left behind.
Maria Correa was one of many people in this neighborhood who couldn't leave their house, not even to go to work.
"Just waiting here, waiting until everything passed,” Correa said. "A little bit nervous because you only see this on television or the movies."
Throughout the morning and afternoon, she listened as police tried to get Fernandez to come out.
"The police called the lady to go outside, to please go outside and that's it,” Correa said.
"Everybody's plans were interrupted today for what happened here today,” neighbor Juan Rodriguez said.
People who live in the neighborhood are relieved because they know things could've ended differently.
"Most important thing is she came out alive and she can go get help,” Rodriguez said.
In 2016, Fernandez was arrested and charged with one count of burglary to an unoccupied structure and one count of criminal mischief valued at over $1,000.
She was released on bond and ordered to stay away from then-boyfriend former Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez. Those charges were dismissed two months later.
