MIRAMAR, Fla. – After a series of bank and armored car robberies that left several dead, FBI Special Agents Benjamin P. Grogan and Jerry L. Dove were part of a high-speed chase involving two suspects in a stolen black Monte Carlo.
FBI agents managed to get them to crash into a tree, 12201 SW 82 Ave, in Southwest Miami-Dade. The felons got off the car, while firing shoulder weapons. Their powerful rounds penetrated armored vests. Grogan and Dove returned fire, while trapped in their cars, after the crash.
A suspect fired at Grogan and Dove at close range and tried to escape in their car. Severely wounded and struggling to remain conscious, Special Agent Edmundo Mireles Jr. managed to stand up. He drew his service revolver and killed them before they got away with Grogan and Dove's bodies. The survivors told the story.
"FBI casualties sustained during this incident were higher than any shoot-out in its history, ending with 2 dead and 5 wounded," spokesman Jim Marshall said in a statement. He added that after the April 11, 1986 tragedy, the FBI made several changes including upgrades on firearms, body armor and training.
The two agent's names remain on the FBI's Hall of Honor and were honored again Friday. President Barack Obama signed legislation Tuesday to name the new "high-performing" $194 million facility, 2030 SW 145 Ave., in Miramar, as "The Benjamin P. Grogan and Jerry L. Dove" federal building.
Grogan, of Georgia, had degrees in Philosophy and Biology. He joined the FBI in 1961. He was 53. Dove, of West Virginia, had degrees from Marshall University and West Virginia University. He was 30.
"It has been said that all great things are simple, and most can be expressed in a single word: fidelity, bravery, and integrity. Honor, duty, and sacrifice," former FBI Director Robert Mueller said at a 2011 ceremony in Miami to add Grogan and Dove to the FBI's Hall of Honor. "But it is no simple matter to act on such words when every second counts and life hangs in the balance."
Mueller said the two embodied the true meaning of the words and what it means to be a special agent. The sacrifice that Grogan and Dove made was memorialized again at the 20-acre campus with a ceremony that included a performance by singer Jon Secada.
The 380,000 square foot building has everything from a fitness center and a running trail, to a medical suite and an automotive shop. There are also hybrid floor layouts with ope-squad bays, offices and meeting rooms.
"The FBI moved into the facility in December 2014 from North Miami Beach and several leased locations across South Florida, helping the agency avoid approximately $11M in rent payments annually over 30 years," Marshall said.
Also at the Friday ceremony were the FBI Director James B. Comey, U.S. General Services Administration Denise Turner Roth, Rep. Frederica Wilson, Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam.
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