A drive-by shooting at North Gardens Senior High, a Miami Gardens charter school, on Wednesday, led to a police chase and gunfire before four people were taken into custody. Two people outside the school were injured.
A drive-by shooting at a charter high school in Miami Gardens Wednesday afternoon escalated into a chaotic car chase and shootout involving a police officer on a traffic-jammed street, police said.
In the end, the only injuries were non-life-threatening gunshot wounds to two people in front of the high school. Miraculously, no one stuck in traffic on the busy roadway was injured as an officer exchanged bullets with four men in a car.
“It was something you see out of the movies,” said Steadman Stahl, president of Miami-Dade’s Police Benevolent Association. “They were hanging out of back windows shooting at the officer. He does return fire, from inside his car.”
By late afternoon, Miami Gardens Police had not named the officer who was injured, or any of the people taken into custody. No charges had been filed. Stahl said Miami Gardens police had detained four males after their car was disabled.
Miami Gardens spokeswoman Diana Delgado-Gorgue would only say that “victims” were struck by gunfire and that an officer chasing the suspects called for backup after people in the car fired at him.
“Multiple subjects were apprehended, while victims were transported to a local hospital and additional victims were treated and released on scene by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue,” she said.
According to Stahl and witnesses, it was close to 1:30 pm when a car pulled up near North Gardens Senior High, a charter school with a storefront in a strip mall at 4692 NW 183rd St., in Miami Gardens. They apparently didn’t see the off-duty Miami Gardens police officer in a patrol car nearby when they opened fire. Two people were shot, a law enforcement source said, as they were about to enter the school.
A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokeswoman said one of the victims was an adult, the other under 18. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue transported the two victims to the hospital. One was airlifted. The other was taken by ambulance. They are both expected to survive.
Stahl said the officer who witnessed the shooting tried to stop the car that the gunfire came from. But when the driver took off, the officer gave chase. Eventually, the vehicle got stuck in traffic somewhere on Northwest 183rd Street between Second and Fifth Avenues, Stahl said, at least two people inside the car leaned out of windows and fired at the officer.
The officer returned fire before the car began to move again. Miraculously, Stahl said, between the suspects, the officer and others stuck in vehicles in traffic, no one was injured. The vehicle the officer was chasing, however, was damaged by gunfire and at least one tire blew out before it stopped near Top Golf at Northwest Seventh Avenue and 173rd Street. Miami Herald news partner WFOR Channel 4 described it as a blue Kia.
Stahl said when the vehicle became disabled, two people got out and ran. The other two stayed in the vehicle. Police managed to take all four into custody without any gunfire being exchanged. Late Wednesday afternoon they were still being interviewed by Miami Gardens police.
“By the Grace of God the officer is alive and none of the subjects were struck,” said Stahl. “I don’t know what led to it. But we’re living in very dangerous times.”
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 3:26 PM.
Chuck Rabin, writing news stories for the Miami Herald for the past three decades, covers cops and crime. Before that he covered the halls of government for Miami-Dade and the city of Miami. He’s covered hurricanes, the 2000 presidential election and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas mass shooting. On a random note: Long before those assignments, Chuck was pepper-sprayed covering the disturbances in Miami the morning Elián Gonzalez was whisked away by federal authorities.
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