Miami-Dade Police Make Arrests in Officer Shootings

MIAMI, FL — Miami-Dade police have made an arrest in the ambush-style shooting of two veteran undercover detectives on Monday night as they sat in their unmarked police vehicle.

Nineteen-year-old Damian Antwan Thompson of the 8700 block of NW 21 Avenue was charged with attempted first-degree murder, battery on a police office and resisting an officer with violence, according to Miami-Dade police.

Detective Daniel Ferrin said that Thompson was arrested following several tips to Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers. Thompson was taken into custody at the Hyatt Place Miami Airport-East hotel not far from Miami International Airport less than 10 hours after the officers were shot.

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Also charged with lesser offenses as a result of the investigation were 25-year-old Jamal Daniels of the 7013 NW 10 Avenue, 22-year-old Jessica Pierre of the unit block of NE 84 Street and 22-year-old Mikequesha Simmons of the 1100 block of NW 65 Street.

Daniels was charged with possession of controlled substance, fraudulent use of a credit card, third-degree grand theft and defrauding an innkeeper. Pierre was picked up on a bench warrant. Simmons was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of less than 20 grams of cannabis.

Arrest documents state that Thompson was still in bed in room 328 as Miami-Dade police were let into the room by two women. Another man in a separate bed immediately placed his hands in the air and asked to leave the room, according to arrest documents

Police said that Thompson refused to surrender and taunted officers in a profanity-laced tirade as they repeated commands for him to show them his hands from under a bed sheet.

"At this time the defendant leaped off the bed and immediately took a fighting stance by blading his body with his fists clenched," arrest documents state, saying that two officers instructed Thompson to place his hands behind his back.

Thompson, who is 5 feet 10 inches tall and 160 pounds, allegedly charged the officers with a closed fist, taunting:

"Y'all f------ going to get it," he shouted, according to arrest documents.

Police said one of the officers struck Thompson four times on the left side of his face with a closed fist while another officer attempted to restrain him.

"The defendant began shouting: 'I'm going to kill both of y'all,' while striking" one of the officers several times on his upper torso with a closed first, arrest documents state. Police said that Thompson suffered bruising on the left side of his face as a result of the struggle.

"While on the ground the defendant began yelling, 'that's all you got p----, y'all going to have to kill me today'" as he continued to arrest by tensing his body and concealing his arms between his body and the ground," according to arrest documents, which said that officers continued to strike Thompson during the struggle.

The injuries he suffered in the confrontation with police were evident to Thompson's face as he was transported to a jail facility on Wednesday wearing what appeared to be a hospital gown.

The suspect's mother later told a television news crew that she believed her son did not attack the officers because she believed he had been at a recording studio on Monday night. "I'm not saying he's an innocent child, but at the same time they didn't have to beat him like that," she insisted.

Officer Terence White was shot once in the arm, and officer Charles Woods was shot once in the leg on Monday when they were ambushed by four suspects who opened fire, landing what appeared to be at least 20 shots, according to police and photographs of the crime scene.

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Police announced shortly before 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday that they had detained several individuals in connection with the attacks. Another individual, 18-year-old Alexander Stalling, was later arrested on unrelated charges.

The two wounded officers were taken to Ryder Trauma Center of Jackson Memorial Hospital, where the 47-year-old White was listed in stable condition and the 37-year-old Woods had already been treated and released.

The ambush incident took place before 10 p.m. at an apartment complex in the 1900 block of NW 60th Street as the officers were conducting surveillance for gang activity.

"The undercover detectives were ambushed by at least two armed subjects, who approached the unmarked police vehicle and began shooting at the detectives," said Detective Marjorie Eloi of the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Fellow officers drove their injured comrades to Jackson in the cargo bed of an unmarked Ford pick-up truck rather than risk having Miami Fire Rescue try to enter the "hot zone" to transport them.

Following the shootings Miami-Dade Police Director Juan J. Perez declared that the "ambush-style attack" would only serve to ignite his department into action.

@MiamiDadePD our work is not done. Have info on perps responsible 4 police ambush, contact police. @MiamiDadeCounty will not stand idle.
— Juan Perez (@JPerezinMia) March" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/JPerezinMi... 29, 2017

Despite the arrests, Perez said on social media that "our work is not done" and the county would not stand "idle."

Damian Antwan Thompson photo by Miami-Dade Police Department