I-95 Snarled, Officer Injured in Deadly Early-Morning Shooting

Update: Police have identified the man killed in the shooting as Junior Prosper, a 31-year-old cab driver. Prosper attacked an officer after crashing on the onramp, police say.

It's fair to say the vast majority of Miami was not in the finest of moods today. It's Monday morning, the Dolphins just finished shaming all of South Florida, and to top it all off, large areas of the city are expected to flood today thanks to a combination of the super moon and projected thunderstorms.

So, naturally, thousands of commuters were also treated to one of the year's great traffic catastrophes this morning when I-95 was shut down during rush hour after a deadly Miami-Dade Police shooting on the interstate.

Details on the shooting remain sketchy. Det. Jennifer Capote, an MDPD spokesperson, tells New Times that detectives on the scene are still sorting out exactly what led to the confrontation between police and the suspect.

But CBS 4 reports that the altercation began with a traffic accident, and photos from the scene show a taxi crashed just before the southbound onramp near 119th Street.

An officer confronted a suspect related to the case and was reportedly bitten on the hand during the scuffle. The suspect was shot and killed; helicopter footage shows a body under a tarp just off the interstate near 119th Street. 

Police: Officer bitten by suspect taken to hospital & is ok. Suspects body on i95 near 119th. Road closed @CBSMiami pic.twitter.com/zRT84ZtPA4

— Gaby Fleischman CBS4 (@GabyontheGo) September 28, 2015

Afterward, MDPD shut down southbound I-95 after 125th Street. Thousands of commuters had to detour to NW Seventh Street as traffic snarled north for miles. As of 9 a.m., the express lanes and at least two regular southbound lanes had been reopened, but traffic was still a mess.

More information about the shooting should be available later this morning, Capote says. We'll update this post when we learn more.

Update 5 p.m.: Junior Prosper has been ID'd as the man killed in the police shooting. The incident started at 5 a.m., police say, when Prosper crashed at the 119th Street entrance to I-95 Southbound; when an officer arrived to investigate, he found Prosper running up the ramp toward traffic. The officer gave chase, tried to stop the cabbie, and Prosper fought back, eventually biting the cop's finger hard enough to sever a finger. At some point in the tussle, the officer's Taser was deployed, but evidently without effect. The officer then shot Prosper, killing him on the spot.