By David J. Neal
Miami Herald
MIAMI — A rookie Miami police officer fatally shot a man who had stabbed a woman near Miami Lakes Middle School on Sunday morning, according to police.
Yurine Rodriguez-Perez, 27, was in good condition after county paramedics airlifted her to Ryder Trauma Center, Miami-Dade police said.
The officer was in uniform when the drama unfolded around 7 a.m. Sunday in a driveway at Miami Lakes Middle School, 6425 Miami Lakeway North, according to Miami police.
The shooting is being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the stabbing is being handled by Miami-Dade police.
According to Miami-Dade, a Miami officer on his way home from work came upon Rodriguez-Perez and a man in a fight. A resident in a nearby apartment complex, Walter Villereal, said he saw most of the confrontation.
Villereal described the officer repeatedly say “Outside the car!” as he stood outside a pickup truck with the couple inside. The officer then broke a truck window. Villereal said he turned to leave when he saw the man get out of the truck with a knife raised, and then heard seven shots.
He said he later saw Rodriguez-Perez screaming and with cuts, including a large one near the right side of her throat.
Javier Ortiz, president of Miami Fraternal Order of Police, said the officer was a rookie “in shock” from having to kill a suspect. The Miami officer and the dead suspect were not identified.
“On behalf of the FOP, there is no doubt in our mind that when the investigation is completed, this officer will be declared a hero,” Ortiz said. “If it wasn’t for the swift actions of this officer, we would not only have had just one homicide here, we would’ve had a victim that would’ve been tragically injured.”
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