Hundreds Demand Answers Over Miami-Dade Officer-Involved Shooting Death

CUTLER BAY, FL — Between 750 and 1,000 people filed into the Sweet Home Missionary Baptist church here on Tuesday night to demand answers and express anger over last week's shooting death of 21-year-old Jamar Rollins by a veteran officer of the Miami-Dade Police Department.

The meeting was called by Miami-Dade Commissioner Dennis C. Moss in response to claims by some members of the community that Rollins had his hands up when he was shot multiple times by a nine-year veteran of the police force on Friday evening in the 10100 block of West Indigo Street.

Miami-Dade Police Director Juan J. Perez said he too heard the claims, but thus far investigators had not received any corroborating statements from witnesses.

"I heard that as well, and if you don’t think that doesn’t concern me you don’t know me," Perez assured the crowd as it expressed doubt over the official police account that Rollins pulled a gun on the officer. "I cannot act on that . . . Not one person has come forward yet to FDLE to say they witnessed that."

Under a Memorandum of Understanding with the county, the FDLE — or Florida Department of Law Enforcement — investigates all police-involved shootings and custodial deaths involving Miami-Dade police officers.

"This was not gun violence. This was an assassination. My nephew was gunned down, killed by an officer," asserted an aunt of Rollins, who asked not to be identified. "There has to be an explanation as to why the officer used overkill on a young man that was standing still."

Police did not identify the officer who shot Rollins or his partner, who is also a nine-year veteran of the force.

Miami-Dade police said the incident occurred at 6:41 p.m when the officers came across a black Nissan Altima they said was driving erratically through the neighborhood of mostly single-family homes in Miami.

"Officers attempted to stop the vehicle at the above location, when the passenger, exited the vehicle and began to flee," Detective Robin Pinkard of the Miami-Dade Police Department said in describing the events on Saturday. "One officer began to pursue the passenger on foot when he encountered the driver, which was armed with a firearm, and shots were fired."

Perez confirmed on Tuesday that police believe "the victim in this case had a firearm," and urged residents to let the investigation play out. Perez said that the officers were in the neighborhood hoping to prevent a retaliatory shooting. He said that police recovered one gun at the scene and three others in the area.

"The last thing I want is a rogue officer in my department," Perez insisted.

Troy Walker, the special agent in charge of the FDLE in Miami-Dade County, contradicted some community members who said the officer that shot Rollins had left the scene temporarily only to return in a change of clothing.

Walker said that the FDLE process is "thorough" and resulted in the recent arrest of a Brevard County deputy on a charge of murder. "We're fair, not biased and we're very transparent," he explained.

Another member of the Rollins family questioned why the police officer fired so many shots at her family member. "Why the shots? Why so many?" she asked. "Two in the leg. Two in the arm — this arm. The other arm, it broke that arm and then a chest shot."

Family members described Rollins as a former college athlete who did not have serious run-ins with the law.

Community members said that some people may be reluctant to come forward if they have outstanding warrants or are on parole. They pointed to an uneasy relationship between police and the community over an extended period of time.

"I don’t understand how you go through the academy, you go through all this training, and you come out shooting," said one man, who added that he lived through segregation. "That makes no sense."

Another woman questioned whether police followed the vehicle without activating their emergency lights. "Those bullets flying could have hit my grandson," she said. "You don't need to be sending people into our neighborhood on rumors and then gunning down our young men."

The passenger of the Nissan managed to elude officers and was still at large on Tuesday.

"We are not the enemy of America," added another man. "We are tired of you killing our children, and it's time for you to stop."

Rollins was pronounced dead at the scene by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

Miami-Dade police said that the officer who shot Rollins and his partner were both white.

Deputy Miami-Dade Mayor Russell Benford, who is Perez's immediate supervisor, said that Mayor Carlos A. Giménez was traveling and unable to make Tuesday's community meeting though he would have been there otherwise. He added that officials looked forward to hearing from the community.

State Rep. Kionne L. McGhee, a former prosecutor, told the audience that he supported the creation of an independent investigatory process for police-involved shootings beyond the current FDLE system.

"I cannot simply turn my head to some glaring facts that are out there," he told the audience. "We have to know that at the end of the day it’s difficult to look into police-involved shootings when we’re all within the same realm."

Photos by Paul Scicchitano, including Miami-Dade Police Director Juan J. Perez at top.