By David Goodhue
Miami Herald
MIAMI — The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office released body camera footage showing deputies fatally shooting an armed Transportation Security Administration agent while serving a warrant in a child-pornography investigation on Dec. 2.
The video shows Special Response Team deputies pry open the door to a home at Southwest 155th Street and 102nd Place in the Palmetto Estates neighborhood around 5:30 a.m., letting three adults, one holding a small child, come outside.
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A man then emerges feet from the doorway inside the house, holding a pistol with both hands, and deputies open fire, knocking him to the floor, the footage shows.
Another man then comes out of a room, screaming, with his hands in the air, the video shows.
The man killed was 21-year-old Christopher Barata. The other man is his brother, 25-year-old Cristian Barata, who was the focus of the investigation, which began in October 2024 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received tips from an internet service provider about someone uploading child pornography, according to his arrest report.
Both men worked for the Transportation Security Administration, the agency confirmed following the incident.
Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said in a statement that she released the footage as part of her “commitment ... to be transparent with our community, to hold ourselves to the highest standards, and to continue working every day to earn and maintain your trust.”
Like all police shootings, this one remains under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
“We recognize that incidents of this nature raise questions and concerns within our community, and I believe the public has the right to see critical incidents involving law enforcement,” Cordero-Stutz said. “While a thorough investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is still underway, releasing this footage ensures everyone sees the sequence of events as they unfolded.”
Detectives investigating Cristian Barata said some of the victims in the 15 videos that he allegedly uploaded to his computer were younger than 6 years old. He was arrested after the shooting. At the sheriff’s office headquarters, he initially invoked his right to remain silent, and detectives ended their interview with him, according to his arrest report.
But, about an hour later, as deputies were taking him to another part of the building, he asked to speak to detectives. After they read him his rights again, he confessed to “watching child pornography on multiple occasions,” his arrest report states.
He has since been released from jail on bond. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office charged him with 15 counts of possession of child pornography on Jan. 16.
Cristian Barata’s attorney, Brian Kirlew, did not comment on his client’s case, but called the raid that killed Christopher Barata “an overreaction by an over-militarized sheriff’s office.”
“Law enforcement knew who the suspect was for months and could have arrested him safely during a routine traffic stop or at his workplace. Instead, they chose a militarized SWAT raid in the middle of the night, and the result was senseless, tragic, and entirely avoidable,” Kirlew said in an email to the Miami Herald. “SWAT teams are meant for true emergencies like hostage situations or armed standoffs, not circumstances where safer alternatives exist.”
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