Miami-Dade Police Chief Suffers ‘Critical’ Injury
The chief of public safety for Miami-Dade County, Fla., was seriously wounded late on Sunday and was hospitalized in Tampa, the mayor of the county said on Monday. The injury was caused by a self-inflicted gunshot, according to two people with knowledge of what happened.
Alfredo Ramirez III, who serves in a dual role as public safety chief and as the director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, the largest police department in the Southeast, was in “critical but stable condition” on Monday, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a statement. Her office said that she traveled to Tampa overnight to to be with the chief’s family. The police department said Chief Ramirez underwent surgery there.
“All that matters right now is Chief Ramirez’s well-being,” Ms. Levine Cava said, “and I join his family, his loved ones, and all of his Miami-Dade Police Department and Miami-Dade County family in praying for his swift recovery.”
Chief Ramirez, 52, who is known as Freddy, suffered the injury on Interstate 75 south of Tampa, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is investigating the incident along with the Florida Highway Patrol. No one else was injured, the F.D.L.E. said in a statement.
Source: The New York Times
