MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A 33-year-old man whose father serves as a Miami-Dade school board member appeared in court on Wednesday when a detective testified about the evidence against him, as he is accused of trying to kill an undercover cop.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Alberto Milian is presiding over the case. Attorney Roderick Vereen, who is with the defense, asked Milian to consider if Steve Gallon IV is eligible for bond.
The judge’s process of consideration, known as an Arthur hearing, includes a mini-trial with witnesses. Testimony started on Wednesday morning with Officer Daniel Aiken, a Miami-Dade homicide detective.
“There were multiple shots,” Aiken said as he answered a prosecutor’s question in court.
Gallon IV, who lives in Broward County and grew up in Miami-Dade, is facing a charge of attempted murder of a police officer, a non-bondable offense. He stands accused of approaching an undercover Miami-Dade narcotics detective from behind and shooting at him on March 8 in Miami, according to prosecutors.
During his testimony, Aiken said the detective was hospitalized and required stitches after the shooting in the area of Northwest Fifth Avenue and 42 Street in Miami.
Aiken said the undercover detective who was shot was part of a team of narcotics and public corruption units on air and land who were following Atiba Moore, a suspect who was “under surveillance.”
Aerial surveillance video from law enforcement and a civilian’s Ring video show Moore was in a black Nissan Altima when the detective was following him in an unmarked white Toyota Camry, Aiken said.
“In one particular video, you hear the cars go by, and then the shooting,” Aiken said in court.
Another surveillance video shows a man who was wearing dark shorts and a light T-shirt, running down an alley, while holding a gun. Aiken said a “uniformed police officer” who played school football with Gallon IV saw the video and identified him.
Aiken also said Miami-Dade detectives had cell phone records showing there was a call between numbers associated with Gallon IV and Moore. He said the call was before the shooting at about 4 p.m.
“His cell phone pinged in that area,” Aiken said about the area of the shooting, as he answered the defense’s questions in court.
Aiken told Vereen that “based on the evidence” he had assumed that the phone conversation between Moore and Gallon IV was about ambushing the undercover detective.
Miami-Dade correctional officers booked Gallon IV at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on March 9, county inmate records show. Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies have also had custody of him, sources said.
Gallon’s father, Steve Gallon III, who has been a serving member of the School Board of Miami-Dade County since 2016, was in Milian’s courtroom when his son appeared there on Monday and Wednesday.
“I raised my son, love my son, and I am standing by my son. Despite the allegations that have been made against him, he has a right to the presumption of innocence afforded to every citizen,” Gallon III wrote in a statement on Monday.
Gallon IV, who lives in Miramar and was a college football player, also played football at Miami Northwestern Senior High School, where both father and son graduated from, and where Gallon III worked as a teacher and school principal.
“I will continue to be present with him through this very difficult process — trusting and praying that the system seeks the truth and does justice,” Gallon III wrote in the statement provided via text message.
Milian dismissed Aiken at about 5 p.m., and with the possibility that the detective may have to testify again, he ordered him to avoid talking to anyone about the case.
Assistant State Attorney Timothy M. VanderGiesen, who is prosecuting the case, asked Milian to protect the identities of some of the witnesses to follow. The identities of the witnesses subpoenaed were already part of the public record online.
Gallon IV has a Miami-Dade arrest record that includes a 2018 arrest for loitering and a 2013 arrest for marijuana possession, but he has never been convicted of a crime, records show. The Arthur hearing in his case is set to continue at 10 a.m., on Sept. 20.
Raw video of detective’s testimony on video evidence
Coverage of the shooting