Two Miami-Dade officers working undercover in the county's north end abandoned their chase of an SUV when a man leaning out the passenger window of the car behind began shooting.
The cops managed to elude the silver Infiniti chasing them, and the Cadillac SUV the police were chasing got away. But none of the officers were injured in Monday night's attack.
"As soon as the truck took off they heard several gunshots," said Miami-Dade police Detective Robin Pinkard. "They didn't know they were being shot until the driver looked in the rear-view window."
Pinkard said the two officers are members of the county's Robbery Intervention Unit, and were on a detail trying to solve a pair of prior shootings in the area.
She said the officers were in an unmarked vehicle and made a U-turn to get behind the Cadillac at Northwest 127th Street and 17th Avenue, after noticing the Cadillac had tinted front windows, which is illegal.
After the officers turned on their blue and red lights, an indication to the Cadillac that it should pull over, Pinkard said the driver took off. Officers chased the Cadillac for about a block -- just a matter of seconds, Pinkard said -- before the officers heard gunshots and realized they were targets.
"They stopped chasing the truck and tried to elude," she said.
No one was injured, though a bullet hit a home in the 12700 block of East Randall Park Drive.
On Tuesday, police released a short audio of the officers contacting dispatch after they discovered they had been targeted. On the tape, an officer can be heard saying, "They're shooting out the window at officers, northbound on 27th."
Then a dispatcher responds, "all vehicles," before the audio cuts off. The call was made at 6:07 p.m.
Police wouldn't release other details or say if they found the Cadillac or the people inside the car. On Wednesday morning, during a gun buyback drive near where Monday's incident took place, police asked for any witnesses or anyone who might have knowledge of the incident to come forward.
The county's north end has become a hotspot for shootings the past year, a combination of gangs fighting for turf and other criminal activity.
"We're asking people to come forward if they know anything," Pinkard said.
Copyright 2014 - The Miami Herald
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
