MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Detectives released surveillance video Monday showing a man brandishing a large chef’s butcher knife outside of Mango’s Tropical Cafe in South Beach. He died Sunday after officers shot him Saturday night.
According to Officer Ernesto Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Miami Beach Police Department, the man in the video at 900 Ocean Dr. was Ryan O. Simms, who officers surrounded and shot next to the South Beach Clock Tower at Ocean Drive and 10th Street.
Simms, 49, was accused of stabbing Officer Ricardo Castillo while refusing to surrender. Rodriguez said Mango’s Tropical Cafe reported Simms had threatened a club employee about 9 p.m.
“It was not any yelling,” said David Wallack, of Mango’s Tropical Cafe. “It was really talking, but talking while waving a butcher knife.”
Minutes later, witnesses said they heard 15 or 20 shots. Anne-Marie Malcolm described Simms on Facebook as a “gentle giant with a soothing soul." Others on social media remembered him as a graduate of Midwood High School in Brooklyn, New York.
Rodriguez said Castillo remains at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s intensive care unit. During his three-year tenure with the department, Castillo, a former Florida Highway Patrol trooper, has received awards and commendations, Rodriguez said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.