The Magic City's violent summer just keeps boiling on, as Miami police shot and killed another suspect early this morning-- the fourth police shooting in just over a month.
Details on the latest clash, which ended just a few hours ago, are still sketchy. Sometime after midnight last night, cops were chasing an armed robbery suspect on NW 17th Ave., near the Pork and Beans Projects, when gunfire rang out. The suspect fell near the Range Funeral Home, says Officer Kenia Reyes, a spokeswoman for the MPD.
Police haven't released any further information about the shooting, including the condition of the suspect. But one police source, speaking to Riptide on background, says the man was killed.
(The Herald, in a just-posted update, confirms that the suspect was killed. According to their report, the man brandished a shotgun after police confronted him about an earlier robbery.)
If true, this morning's clash would mark the fourth person killed by Miami police since July.
On July 6, a rookie cop named Joseph Marin shot DeCarlos Moore, a 36-year-old Overtown resident, in the head at a traffic stop. Moore was unarmed, and his death sparked emotional protests across Overtown and pledges from Police Chief Miguel Exposito to find justice in the case.
Then on Aug. 11, again in Overtown, officers shot and killed a Joell Lee Johnson, a 16-year-old, during an undercover operation. Police say the boy tried to rob a cop posing as a Chinese delivery man, and that he pointed a gun at cops.
On Saturday, police opened fire on a domestic abuse suspect in Liberty City. The man ran from the scene and exchanged gunshots with police before he was hit and killed near NW 2nd Ave. and 62nd St.
We'll update this post when we learn more about the latest shooting.
Update: Miami police have confirmed that the suspect did die after this morning's shooting. Here are the details, according to Reyes:
Just after midnight, Miami police spotted two men on NW 14th Ave. near 58th street riding bicycles and brandishing a shotgun.
Police confronted the men, and one officer shot the man with the shotgun. It's not clear why he fired.
The other suspect then ran off, hiding between houses in the neighborhood. Police brought in K-9 units and eventually arrested the second man around 3:30 a.m.
The shooting victim, meanwhile, was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he died.
We'll update again when we learn the names of the men.
Update 2: Police have identified the man who died as 19-year-old Tarnorris Tyrell Gaye.
Gaye has a number of felony charges on his record, but no convictions, according to Riptide's search. In 2008, he was charged with grand theft of a vehicle, battery on a public official and carrying a concealed firearm.
This year, on July 9, he was charged with armed robbery. No action was taken on that case.
