By Diana Marrero, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Opa-Locka, Fla. -- An amateur boxer who once dreamed about making it to the Olympics was killed by police in a drug bust Monday night after a Miami-Dade police officer said the man pointed a gun at him.
The officer said he was forced to shoot 25-year-old Gus Rahming, a former Golden Gloves champion who lost his dream to the streets. The shooting again sparked anger in the black community, where activists and neighbors say they have grown fearful of the people who should be protecting them from violence -- the police.
Police said the shooting happened when specialized narcotics officers tried to arrest Rahming after watching him make a series of drug deals in an apartment parking lot.
When officers tried to move in on him, Rahming ran into the apartment building, allegedly pointing his gun at an officer as he ran down a first-floor hallway, police said.
The officer, Victor Gil, 25, has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the shooting investigation.
Police said several witnesses heard Gil yell at Rahming to drop his gun before he was forced to open fire.
But neighbors who say they saw the shooting disputed those claims. Some said they were sure Rahming did not have a gun.
Rahming’s cousin, Ernest Davis, said he was inside his apartment when Rahming was shot dead outside his door. Davis said he heard the doorknob turning before several shots were fired.
“If somebody is trying to get in my house, they aren’t trying to kill you,” said Davis. He said his baby daughter had opened the door to see Rahming lying in a pool of blood.
Detectives impounded Davis’ doorknob to investigate whether Rahming was trying to open the door when he was shot, said Sgt. Pete Andreu, spokesman with the Miami-Dade Police Department.
Andreu said the officers were casing the area at the request of the Opa-locka Police Department, which had received complaints about rampant drug dealing in the apartment complex.
But neighbors say the shooting traumatized children who were playing in the lot when officers ran in with their guns drawn.
“They’re shooting with no remorse,” said Anika Taylor, whose 10-year-old son was among a dozen or more children there. “The kids are scared and they’re not scared of the people around here. They’re scared of the police.”
Neighbor Patricia Figueroa said Rahming was not armed and that she did not hear officers telling Rahming to put his gun down.
“What they did yesterday was wrong,” Figueroa said.
Andreu said Rahming placed residents in jeopardy by running away from police and pointing his gun at them.
The shooting attracted the scrutiny of PULSE, a local civil rights group that took statements from witnesses and surveyed the scene.
“Our concern is that the investigation is done properly,” said Nathaniel Wilcox, the group’s leader.
It also drew the attention of federal prosecutors. Alicia Valle, chief of public corruption and civil rights for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said her office would review the shooting as part of a recent effort to review all police shootings in Miami-Dade.
Valle said prosecutors adopted the measure a few weeks ago to develop a better relationship with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. She also said federal prosecutors wanted to become involved earlier in police shootings.
Black activists have long called for such a review, saying state prosecutors often let guilty officers off the hook for questionable shootings.
“It’s about time,” said Max Rameau, a community activist. “We’ve been making enough noise that people are listening.”
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said she was not familiar with any comprehensive federal review of police shootings in the county. Rundle also said she has at times asked federal prosecutors for help on such cases.
“If they would like to do something on a more regular basis, we welcome it,” she said.
On Monday, neighbors set up a table filled with teddy bears and empty beer bottles to commemorate Rahming’s life.
“He used to come here and drink and chill,” said Davis, who disputed the allegation that Rahming was a drug dealer.
Court records show Rahming had been arrested at least 15 times since 1998 on a number of charges including cocaine possession and assault. He has been convicted twice -- once for trespassing and loitering and another time for disorderly conduct.
But relatives say the Rahming they knew was a good man who never messed with anyone and loved nothing more than talking about his boxing days.
As an amateur boxer, Rahming won the Golden Gloves state championship three times. He once dreamed of winning a national title and making it to the 2000 Olympics.
He still loved to box but had fallen on hard times because his criminal record prevented him from getting a steady job. Rahming was the eldest of nine children. He also has a 9-year-old son.
“He was a good boy,” said his father, Gus Rahming Sr., a pastor at a Liberty City church. “He had problems. All he needed was a chance at life.”
In a 1997 interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel after winning a USA Boxing District Tournament bout, Rahming said his days of running with gangs and getting into street fights were behind him.
“I was always fighting in the streets, always gang fights, always getting into trouble,” he said. “I didn’t like getting in trouble, but it was there, all around me.”
For a while, boxing seemed to give him that second chance.
“This is the new Gus Rahming,” he said then.