4 Miami Dade officers shot (1 fatal).. suspect killed

miami herald

One Miami-Dade police officer was shot dead and three others wounded late Thursday morning after they stopped a man driving erratically through a Southwest Miami-Dade County neighborhood.

The man opened fire on the officers with a high-powered weapon before fleeing, police said. Law enforcement officers from across South Florida swarmed to the scene to assist in the search for the fugitive. Streets and local highway exits were closed to seal off escape routes. Cars were stopped and trunks searched.

Police identified 25-year-old Shawn Sherwin LaBeet, as the suspect.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez confirmed the unidentified officer's death shortly before 2 p.m. The slain officer was shot in the neck.

The shooting happened a little after 11 a.m., when officers working on a burglary detail spotted the suspicious car in an apartment complex at Southwest 280th Street and 143rd Court, said Miami-Dade Police Cmdr. Linda O'Brien. The man inside stepped out of the car and opened fire on the officers with a high-powered firearm -- possibly an AK-47 -- striking four, then fled in the auto.

One of the wounded was a female officer whose leg was shattered by a bullet. She was undergoing surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

A white Honda Accord believed to be that of the shooter, its windshield shattered, was later found abandoned along a fence lining the bank of Black Creek Canal at Southwest 129th Avenue and 203rd Street in an unincorporated area west of Cutler Bay.

A weapon was recovered, O'Brien said. But the fugitive is believed to still be armed and may be wearing a bulletproof vest.

Police officers were being advised over radio that the suspect had possibly purchased three assault rifles and a handgun in March.


Officer's killer shot dead in Pembroke Pines
http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_257003200.html

In an apartment building in Pembroke Pines, the chase for accused cop killer Sean LaBeet ended late Thursday in a second confrontation with Miami-Dade police officers. The first confrontation ended in the death of a police officer. The second ended in his death, after police say he opened fire when they tried to arrest him.

CBS4 sources say the end came at an apartment complex at 305 SW 83rd Avenue Pembroke Pines, following a search for LaBeet that started early Thursday afternoon.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who once headed the Miami-Dade police Department, detailed how LaBeet was captured.

"The confronted him. There was an exchange of gunfire. The subject was shot and killed," Alvarez said.

After receiving a tip Thursday evening that LaBeet was hiding in an apartment complex in Pembroke Pines, Miami-Dade sent its SWAT team. Miami-Dade's SWAT team attempted to make the arrest, assisted by the Pembroke Pines police department.

Alvarez said LaBeet was armed and had an extra clip of ammunition when he confronted police.