Then, the action started: a brief car chase, a decision to ram the Monte Carlo into stopping, and a gunfight with more than 140 rounds fired. By the grace of God and the discipline of the responding patrol officers, no shots were fired at friendlies, but it could have been very different. He also experienced visual effects like tunnel vision. Special Agents (SA) John Hanlon, Edmundo Mireles, Gilbert Orrantia, Ron Risner, McNeil, Grogan, and Dove fired back with their service revolvers, shotguns, and pistols. You're responsible. It was the deadliest day in California law enforcement history. All rights reserved. First was the matter of the weapons themselves. The First Encounter: Platt and Matix Inside the . The suspects were able to make off with the money and this crime was left unsolved until after the April 11th shooting. Certified Pilot April 25, 1986. The 1986 FBI Miami shootout between eight FBI agents and two serial bank robbers was the . Paul barely mentions this but, as we know now, that change was a solution looking for a problem, though it was not necessarily evident at the time. Buy, Sell, and Trade your Firearms and Gear. FREE Grant assistance! The dispatchers who heard the terror unfold on the radio and felt powerless to stop it also battled with significant emotional distress. Paul recreates several of the situations faced and shots taken by the agents. Mireles and his fellow agents performed extraordinarily well in a dynamic, dangerous and difficult fight. A series of two other unmarked bureau Buicks joined the low-speed tail as it meandered for two minutes a few blocks each way. To Petty, the biggest takeaway from the Miami Shootout is that the incident didnt have to happen at all. The subject of the warrant is . Ethan Bear, J.T. On April 11, 1986 a firefight ensued between 8 FBI agents and 2 . It is here where Matix and Platt stole Emilios car and left him dead and missing until after the April 11th shooting. This study dramatically altered the way law enforcement thought about handgun ammunition. Thanks! To repeat, bullet size does matter when trying to stop a large land mammal like a human being. Which is exactly what happened at 9:30 a.m. on April 11, 1986. April 20, 2011. architecture/construction firm) retains copyright rights to the image unless the contract with the agency says otherwise. If weapons are the hardware of law enforcement, tactics are the software, Petty says and youve got to have both. The Ultimate Firearms Destination for the Gun Lifestyle, 2023 Recoil Magazine Buy, Sell, and Trade your Firearms and Gear. Required fields are marked *. Another similar criticism of the situation is that none of the participating agents had rifles. If I could change anything at all, Id implement the issuing of assault rifles to agents the year before.. I hope this brief explanation of the infamous Miami Dade shooting has been both enlightening and educational. While gelatin testing is commonplace, this was the first time that anyone had developed an objective methodology for the evaluation of law enforcement ammunition based upon real world shooting situations. One of the common misnomers is because older cars are heavy and made out of metal they perform ballistically, he said. In short, in Miami, in 1986, the FBI had a shootout with two bad guys and it was the biggest firefight in the FBI's recent history. Agents were wounded and had to shoot one-handed; a couple of agents performed more than one mag change. But on April 11 . Agents on the scene had 12-gauge shotguns, Smith & Wesson Model 459 9mm pistols, and Smith & Wesson Military and Police .357 Magnum revolvers shooting .38 Special +P. The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to man of skill, blah blah blah, time and chance happen to them all.. Recovered FBI documents reveal four of the preceding robberies showing that these activities were not a one-off event but rather a perhaps pathological series of robberies/murders over the course of several months. The hardware only gets you so far. What the FTU did was prepare tests of 9mm, 10mm, .38, .357, .380, and .45 caliber bullets under reproducible conditions to see how they performed. and manufacturers. There are lots of things people know, or think they know, about the Miami shootout. If the officers had decided to tail Platt and Matix instead of sicking three Buicks on them, for example, a gunfight may have been avoided. Five-Minute Event, 30-Year Analysis In the immediate aftermath, one fact was glaringly clear: the Miami Shootout didnt go well. (FBI). The death was officially listed as a . Police1 is revolutionizing the way the law enforcement community Mireles reports that discussing the shooting and its lasting emotional and physical effects with the other agents who were there was a great help. How the death of her boyfriend - in the crossfire of a gangland feud - drove Maya Jama's rise to stardom and to her becoming Love Island's new host Maya Jama will make her debut as Love Island . . Nearly 34 years ago on April 11th, 1986 at 9:30am eastern, one of the most infamous shootouts in the history of the United States and the FBI took place in an unincorporated part of Dade County Florida. Two of them, their service prompted by duty, were shot to . Photos by FBI, Miami-Dade Police Department. __.___ Page s! 9 a.m.: A squad of more than a dozen FBI agents in 11 cars are about to conduct a stakeout of banks along South Dixie Highway. Theres a reason, he says, 83 percent of all officers who are killed in the line of duty during self-initiated activities are killed in or around cars: tactics matter. Mireles then advanced to the drivers side door and pointed his revolver through the window and Shot Platt in the chest which bruised his spinal cord and ended the gunfight. They had to take their eyes off the threat and look at their weapon to reload. Platt's infamy was assured on April 11, 1986, when an eight-man team of federal agents took down Platt and William Russell Matix in what became known as the Miami FBI shootout. 00:00. Shooting through car doors and front windshield glass was telling. (720 500 pixels, file size: 178 KB, MIME type: Crime_scene_photo_of_the_FBI_Miami_shootout,_showing_suspect_and_agents'_vehicles_and_battle_debris._Photo_by_Miami-Dade_PD.jpg, http://images.policemag.com/articles/L-FBI-Miami-Shootout.jpg. The most thoroughly studied gunfight of the 20th Century occurred on 4/11/86 in the Dadeland area of Miami. At least one switched to a secondary weapon. As my old USMC drill sergeant use to say, Getting hit by a rifle bullet will fuck up your health record! Case in point was me: The rifle bullet that hit my left arm fucked up my health record and temporarily took me out of the fight. 1986. 2023 GunMag Warehouse. Both men had no criminal record before their crime spree which began with a single murder and robbery on October 4th, 1985 where young Emilio Briel was killed by the two men at a quarry at the edge of the Everglades that was used for target practice. This comprehensive understanding helped to answer questions and erase nagging doubts. One of those changes, as I mentioned earlier, was the move to the .40 S&W cartridge. Even looking at the modern value, $7,316, it's not too impressive. See more ideas about fbi, miami, federal bureau of investigation. All Rights Reserved. In my opinion, the Miami Dade shooting is almost on par with the equally infamous 1997 North Hollywood Bank Shootout in terms of their memorability. Retired Special Agent Ed Mireles was one of eight FBI agents on . Plus this would mark the car as a target for a break-in to take the weapon. It was the Miami Dade shootout that was the impetus for the FBI selecting the Smith & Wesson 1076 as their new service weapon. Mireles awareness of the safety violation saved two lives that day, because the bullet that would have torn into his heart was stopped by the bones in his just-raised left arm, and the agent he had accidentally covered with his weapon was saved from being shot by the involuntary trigger press that might have followed after Mireles was shot in the chest. However, five of the other vehicles that were involved in the operation but did not participate in the shootout contained more shotguns, MP-5 submachine guns, and M16 rifles in their trunks which would have probably changed the outcome of the shootout. That 158-grain hollow point is a good round if it hits the person but it had minimal penetration.. Updated: Jan 15, 2023 / 10:34 PM EST. The Miami Shootout, he says, schooled the law enforcement community on how little they understood about shooting in and around vehicles. A bullet-proof vest can be seen in the lower right corner of the photo, near blood-stained pavement at the foot of officer. What infamous domestic battle would you like to see covered next? Most of the agents werent wearing body armor, but even if they had been, tests reveal the vests issued to Agent personnel would not stop the .223-caliber rounds that were fired by Michael Lee Platt, the report states. During the firefight, FBI Special Agents Jerry L. Dove and Benjamin P. Grogan were killed, while five other agents were wounded. finds relevant news, identifies important training information, His focus on using sound tactics helped him prevail. The 1986 FBI Miami shootout was a gun battle that occurred on April 11, 1986, in an unincorporated region of Dade County in South Florida (renamed Miami-Dade in 1997) between eight FBI agents and two serial bank robbers. In the tests where hollow point bullets had to penetrate barriers like dry wall and plywood, expansion was rare. The MP5 and M16, for example, were not at the scene either, as those agents didn't make it to the shootout in time. Caribou Media West, LLC Savage Arms 1911: Revolutionary Reliability. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Elias Pettersson scored on the final attempt in the shootout as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Sunday night and avoided a winless five-game trip. Photo by FBI. Other robberies in the string had occurred on Friday mornings, and since the last haul for these guys had been small, only about $8,000 according to those involved, agents guessed theyd hit again soon. This allowed Platt to live long enough to kill FBI agents Jerry Dove and Ben Grogan and wound one more. 7, except the shot was fired from directly in front of the car. Most of the agents were not carrying 9mm pistols but instead a mix of .357 Magnums and .38 Special revolvers. However if you read the forensic analysis with autopsy photos and crime scene photos, read the agent's reports (they are on the FBI's website as a freedom-of-information disclosure) and if you . The death of Regina Platt on Christmas Eve 1984 was considered a suicide. You need to pay for the officers killed and injured. This led to another project that the FBI started to work on, which was the ballistics testing project. Although Mireles was under significant stress and hovering on the edge of bleeding out, he holstered his revolver as directed. While Platt and Matix were mortally wounded during the shootout, they were not incapacitated. Several of the FBI vehicles and the suspects car collided with one another as the black Monte Carlo was forced off the Dade county roads and into a tree. Other agents elsewhere on the stakeout had more firepower, but they didnt get there in time, with one agent missing the initial radio call because he had stopped to pee. Mike is an Honor Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, a graduate of the US Army Airborne School, and a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with over 26 years of service. If you fired a bullet weighing 150 grains, what came out the other end was a bullet weighing 75 grains or less. WILL LESTER April 10, 1987 GMT. In the shootout scene they make it look like the bank robber pumped off at least a case of .223 through a fully automatic Mini-14, when in reality he probably didn't even finish off his second mag and he wasn't shooting a full auto weapon. An event like this firefight sends out ripples in the pond that travel far, and officers and agency leaders need to account for this and provide help to all those affected not just the direct participants. MIAMI (AP) _ As a swarm of FBI agents closed in on a stolen black Monte Carlo, Gordon McNeill knew he was ordering his agents to capture two men who were going to go down hard . Miller and Brock Boeser scored in regulation for the Canucks, who went 1-4-0 in five road games. In the end, two FBI agents and the bank robbers were dead . February 2, 2021 / 5:20 PM / CBS Miami. Keeping his head, he devised a way to fire and reload the shotgun by resting it on the bumper of a car and reloading it with the gun braced between his knees. Mireles notes that its important to remember that PTSD can cast a wide net. * William Matix: S&W M3000 12-gauge shotgun, one round #6 shot fired. So you have guys who are trying to figure something out on the fly. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. He also addresses the many what ifs that inevitably spring up when people who talk about such things discuss the potentialities of violent encounters since Miami Dade featured several of those. After this, Platt attempted to get away by entering Grogan and Doves car but was shot by the injured Agent Mireles who shot Platt with his Remington 870 shotgun using only one arm. Schwartzenberger, 43, had been with the FBI since 2005, and leaves behind a . 1986 FBI Miami shootout He and his partner Michael Lee Platt were killed in a shootout with FBI agents. Despite life-threatening injuries, he managed to move offensively and terminate the lethal threat, while fighting off an overwhelming desire to surrender to the fatigue that was overcoming his body and mind. Two FBI agents, Jerry Dove and Benjamin Grogan, were killed during the April 1986 "Miami Shootout," one of the most violent firefights in the agency's history. Within four years a blink of the eye by bureaucracy standards the FBI was fielding the Smith & Wesson 1076 in a move from 9mm to 10mm rounds, and sparking many local police forces to do the same. For example, copyright in works by the Florida Space Authority may have been transferred to Space Florida. Twenty-five years ago, eight FBI agents pursuing two armed robbery suspects attempted a felony stop that resulted in a hail of gunfire, four deaths, and a reexamination of law enforcement weaponry, duty ammunition, body armor, and vehicle-stop tactics. withheld for the following reasonlslz El For your information: _ _ _ t _, In . Now the couple hopes to encourage others to consider the gift of kidney donation. He knows he can thank it for his current position as a contract instructor in vehicle-based tactics for both the FBI and other local police departments. The Miami FBI Shootout - The Lost Tapes. Even as the new weapon fielding process unfolded, the FBI also changed its rules to allow agents to up their personally owned firepower, with every agent who had the funding to buy an assault rifle and then qualify with it, Mireles said. Two FBI agents were fatally shot and three agents were wounded in a shootout as they executed a search warrant in Sunrise, Florida, on Tuesday morning, the FBI said. It was hoped that these experts could come to a consensus as to how best to stop a human target.. The test events conducted were as follows: Test 1: Bare gelatin at 10 feet, control test. The study also proved something many law enforcement agencies have known: The expansion of hollow point bullets is unreliable.