By Ihosvani Rodriguez, Sun-Sentinel News (Florida)
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - Police evacuated a building and blocked traffic Monday after a man, thought to be heavily armed, barricaded himself inside his South Beach apartment.
By late Monday, Miami Beach police negotiators had spent more than 13 hours trying to talk the man into surrendering. They called his phone, knocked on his door and yelled to him through a bullhorn from a balcony next door, but he refused to speak with them, relatives or friends, police spokesman Bobby Hernandez said.
A SWAT team stood ready to charge into the apartment in the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, where police said Alberto Rodriguez, 50, lived.
“He’s mentally ill. He’s got a cache of weapons, and that’s a very dangerous combination,” Hernandez said. “We’ve got a SWAT team but that’s our last resort. We want to avoid a tragic situation just because we didn’t wait an extra 10 minutes.”
The standoff began about 8 a.m., after police were called to the home, where neighbors said Rodriguez has lived with his mother for at least 20 years. Josefina Gutierrez, a neighbor, said the man’s mother, Concepción Rodriguez, ran to her door and said that her son tried to kill her by throwing her from the second-floor apartment.
When police learned the man might have an arsenal of weapons, they quickly evacuated the building, cut off electricity to the apartment and closed off more than a block south of the Lincoln Road Mall, located near the apartment.
Concepción Rodriguez, who escaped unharmed, told police that her son has a long history of mental illness and is an avid gun collector. Alberto Rodriguez looked out the window, but did not acknowledge the police. About 8 p.m., police brought in lights to illuminate the five-story building.
Dozens of people watched the standoff Monday afternoon. Some took pictures as passing motorists slowed to see what was going on, snarling traffic.
Gutierrez spoke to Concepción Rodriguez, who spent most of the day sitting in the back of a police car.
“She was very calm but I could tell she was very scared,” Gutierrez said in Spanish. “She told me she was hungry and asked me to get her a café con leche.”
Volunteers with the American Red Cross brought food to residents who were displaced and said they were ready to provide food and housing for them.
Among the neighbors was Jim Routh, who was awakened about 11 a.m., unaware of the situation unfolding a floor below him.
“I stuck my head outside and there was an officer with a big gun telling me to go back inside,” he said.
Routh later called authorities so that he could leave the building to get food.