A Miami-Dade family is demanding answers after a 52-year-old woman was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy Saturday afternoon, following a call for help at their Miami Gardens home.
The incident began around 4 p.m. when the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office (MDSO) responded to a call about a woman with a knife, reportedly cutting herself at a residence near NW 55th Avenue and NW 190th Street.
According to Assistant Sheriff Eric Garcia, deputies arrived and tried to de-escalate the situation. “[They] attempted to establish a dialogue to de-escalate the situation. During that encounter, the female was tased with a less-than-lethal device, and at the same time, a deputy discharged a service weapon, striking the female,” Garcia said.
The woman, whose name has not been released, was rushed to the hospital but died from her injuries.
Family members told CBS News Miami that the woman’s 12-year-old daughter was home and made the call for help. The victim’s older daughter, who did not want to be identified, said she was on the phone with her younger sister when the incident happened. “I hear two gunshots, two gunshots in a house with no gun. I don’t have a gun. My dad is out of the country and it’s just my little sister and mom in the room,” she said.
The family expressed deep frustration and confusion about the use of deadly force and the lack of information from authorities. “They’re unqualified. That is insane, and they’re not respecting us because we’re asking them and nobody knows… where is my sister?” one family member said.
MDSO has not provided specifics about how the woman was threatening deputies or what led to the decision to use deadly force. Assistant Sheriff Garcia emphasized that such situations are challenging: “These are situations and calls for service in which our deputies are constantly training for situations with individuals that may be experiencing a mental health crisis, and in this situation here they attempted to establish that dialogue with that individual but it was unsuccessful.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has opened an investigation into the shooting, as is standard protocol whenever a deputy fires their weapon.
CBS News Miami will continue to follow this developing story as more details become available.
