Three Miami-Dade Police officers are recovering this morning and two suspects are dead after a massive county-spanning manhunt.
The incident began around 4:30 a.m. when the first officer tried to arrest a subject after gunshots were reported in the 2200 block of NW 27th Avenue. The suspect shot the officer in the abdomen and then took off in the officer's patrol car.
Update: The initial suspect has now been identified 27-year-old Adrian Montesano. Police were originally called to the first location after Montesano attempted to rob a Walgreen's at gunpoint.
The incident didn't result in a car chase but did set off a massive manhunt. Miami, Miami-Dade, and Hialeah Police were all involved in the manhunt. The patrol car was eventually found abandoned in Hialeah. Police believe the suspect or suspects ditched the cruiser and got into a blue Volvo convertible.
Police located that car at NW 26th Avenue and 64th Street after it crashed into a tree, and they quickly surrounded it. The suspect or suspects then opened fire and shot two other officers, both receiving arm wounds. Another police officer was injured by broken glass on the scene.
Officers returned fire. One suspect was pronounced dead next to the Volvo. The other was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where that suspect was pronounced dead.
All three officers were also taken to Jackson Memorial but are expected to survive. According to the Miami Herald, the first officer had already undergone surgery and was already seen walking around and talking to colleagues.
Update: CBS Miami has identified the initial shooter as 27-year-old Adrian Montesano.
The incident started when Montesano attempted an armed robbery at a Walgreens in the 2200 block of NW 27th Avenue. CBS Miami's report is a bit of an odd "friend of a friend speculating on what happened" affair, but the source says that Montesano was a drug addict who had run out of money to buy more earlier that night.
"They wanted more," the source says. "Wanting more causes people to sell something or rob someone. And in this case it must be he robbed someone, he robbed the Walgreens at gunpoint."
The friend believes cops finally caught up with Montesano at the location where he went to buy drugs.
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