DANIA BEACH, Fla. – The man killed by Miami-Dade police officers in a Monday night shootout that left one officer critically wounded was a 32-year-old man last known to be living in Georgia, sources tell Local 10 News.
The series of events that ended in Jeremy Willie Horton being shot and killed by police after allegedly opening fire on officers in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood began a few hours before and nearly 20 miles north, at a Dania Beach convenience store.
According to the clerk at the 9-11 convenience store, at Dania Beach Boulevard and Southeast Fifth Avenue, Horton, a Michigan native whose last known address was in Lithia Springs, Ga., walked in just after 3:30 p.m. and held him up at gunpoint. The clerk said he was able to snap a photo of the suspect’s car, just as he took off with close to $1,000 in cash.
The clerk did not wish to be identified out of concern for his safety.
“BSO’s Robbery Unit detectives responded to the scene and were able to obtain tag information for the suspect vehicle,” Broward Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Carey Codd said. “Investigative information revealed that the suspect vehicle was seen early Monday morning in the Miami Springs area. BSO detectives communicated that information to the Miami-Dade Police Department and a BOLO (Be On The Lookout) for the suspect vehicle was communicated across Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.”
“He said that they had guns so it was a scary scene,” Richard Burke, a friend of a witness to the robbery, said.
Burke’s friend was trying to walk into the store as the robbery began, he said.
“The guys were inside and they locked the door and they looked at him and shook their head and they said ‘it is not happening,’ Burke said. “(My friend) got in his truck; he was shaking like a leaf. He got to my house and he couldn’t even talk he was so scared.”
MDPD officers in the department’s Robbery Intervention Detail then spotted that car in the area of Northwest 17th Avenue and 62nd Street, where the suspect soon managed to get away, striking several police cars. That’s where a Local 10 News crew spotted the vehicle take off before Horton was shot and killed by police just a few blocks away.
Horton has a lengthy criminal background, dating back to 2012, with charges of fraud, cruelty to children, assault, battery and resisting arrest.
Local 10 News later learned that Horton had a previous interaction with law enforcement here in South Florida just a week before the shooting.
On Aug. 8, a Golden Beach police officer pulled over Horton just after 4:45 a.m. as he was driving northbound on the 300 block of Golden Beach Drive. The officer cited Horton for having an expired tag, no proof of insurance and driving on a suspended license, according to documents obtained by Local 10 News.
Timeline of known events:
Local 10 News is working to learn more about Horton’s record and interactions with law enforcement.