MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Former Miami-Dade Police Director Robert Parker was found dead Wednesday night in northwest Miami-Dade County.
The medical examiner ruled Parker's death to be a suicide, Miami-Dade police confirmed.
Nearby residents said Parker's body was discovered by a canal. Sources told Local 10 News that Parker died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
"We heard screaming and yelling from his family," George Frye, who saw the body, told Local 10.
Parker joined the Miami-Dade Police Department in 1976 and ascended to the position of director in 2004 after predecessor Carlos Alvarez was elected Miami-Dade County mayor. Parker served as director for five years before retiring in 2009. He had served with the Miami-Dade Police Department for 33 years.
"Director Parker dedicated his life to the safety of Miami-Dade County," Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Thursday morning. "He was a member of the Miami-Dade Police Department for 33 years and in 2004 made history by becoming the first African-American director of the department."
Gimenez called it "a painful time for Miami-Dade police officers, all county employees and our community."
"There are no words that can express the pain and grief that the Miami-Dade Police Department is experiencing," Miami-Dade Police Director J.D. Patterson said Thursday in a statement.
Patterson said Parker's "service, commitment and dedication to this community will greatly be missed."
Parker, who also served in the U.S. Army, had recently celebrated his birthday, his Facebook page showed. That page has since been filled with condolences.
"In a professional level and personal level, he was the same person, which is very rare usually when you get up to that rank of director," police union secretary Luis Fuste told Local 10. "Unfortunately, sometimes people feel they have to take a certain posture or a certain position, but Bobby Parker was Bobby Parker. He loved the community that much and he was that great of a standup person."
Neighbors echoed those sentiments.
"He'll be missed," Frye said.
Parker's family asked for privacy but released a statement to the media Thursday.
"We thank the Miami-Dade Police Department and the community for all their support at this difficult time," the statement said. "Words cannot express the sadness my family feels from losing such a strong, compassionate and God-fearing man. What little relief we feel comes from remembering that he spent his life in service to his community and from realizing that we are not alone; that we are surrounded and supported by the people he loved and cherished the most."
The news of Parker's suicide comes 10 years to the month that former Miami City Commissioner Arthur Teele shot himself in the lobby of the former Miami Herald building.
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