MIAMI – Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez was back home from Tampa, the department announced on Friday afternoon.
Ramirez, 52, released a statement: “Thank you for the continued thoughts and well wishes. Stay safe!”
Stephanie V. Daniels, the department’s interim director, sent an e-mail to police officers with the statement and reported that Ramirez was “doing great as he continues to recover.”
Daniels also added that Ramirez had been “deeply touched by the outpouring of support.”
Ramirez had been hospitalized in Tampa since July 23 after a shooting along the southbound lanes of Interstate 75. His wife, Jody Ramirez, called 911, and Ramirez underwent surgery.
The shooting was after Tampa police officers detained Ramirez and his wife at a hotel while investigating a report that a man had pointed a gun to his head and threatened to “end it all.”
Ramirez, a father of four, was in Tampa to attend the Florida Sheriff’s annual conference at the hotel where police officers detained him and had decided to return to Miami-Dade earlier than planned, according to Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
The Ramirez family released a statement in August saying the police director never took out a gun in public before checking out of the hotel, and when he did fire a gun in the car, his wife of 30 years “was able to grab” his arm “so that the resulting injury was serious but not fatal.”
Levine Cava appointed Daniels to replace Ramirez while he recovers. The Florida Highway Patrol and the Tampa Police Department investigated the incidents. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has an ongoing investigation.
Interactive graphic: Reports on incidents, a 911 call, and locators