MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A retired police lieutenant who authorities said shot at her ex-boyfriend Thursday night in southwest Miami-Dade appeared in bond court Saturday afternoon.
According to Miami-Dade police, officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert in the area of Southwest 282nd Street and 167th Avenue just before 6:30 p.m. after receiving reports of a shooting.
Police said officers discovered that Evelyn Fernandez, 52, who used to work for the Miami-Dade Police Department, shot at her ex-boyfriend, David Sanchez, a retired City of Miami police major, but struck his vehicle instead.
No injuries were reported.
Fernandez appeared in Miami-Dade bond court Saturday, where a judge ordered her held without bond.
While in court, Fernandez’s attorney asked the judge for a bond reduction after arguing that the allegations could not be proven that she was attempting to murder anyone but was denied.
“There is no evidence that she was attempting to kill anyone. Essentially what they are doing is they’re taking the offense of shooting into a vehicle and saying that she was attempting to kill somebody,” Fernandez’s lawyer argued.
State prosecutors argued that Fernandez had probable cause for attempted murder after police said she pulled up next to the victim while he was in his vehicle and asked, “Do you want me to shoot you?” before firing several rounds at him.
Sanchez told police that both he and Fernandez dated as boyfriend and girlfriend for one year, but ended their relationship “a few weeks ago,” according to her arrest report.
Since then, Sanchez told investigators that Fernandez had been stalking him on multiple occasions, police said.
Sanchez told police he was leaving a family member’s residence when he noticed Fernandez’s vehicle in the area, moments before the shooting occurred, the report stated.
Police said as the victim accelerated his vehicle to flee from Fernandez, she fired several shots at the victim’s vehicle striking it several times before fleeing the scene.
Fernandez then fled the scene and barricaded herself inside another home in the area of Southwest 174th Street and 142nd Place, where she remained until being taken into custody Friday afternoon, authorities said.
Police said family members were inside the home at the time of the incident, but were able to leave as authorities worked to detain Fernandez. They said there were times where she appeared that she would begin to cooperate, but she would then change her mind.
According to authorities, shots were fired inside the home by Fernandez during the ordeal. She had holed herself up in her attic.
“After several hours, it was determined the subject (Fernandez) was hiding in the attic and while she was being taken into custody, she fought the officers,” Detective Angel Rodriguez, a MDPD spokesperson said in a press release Friday.
The judge Saturday also ordered Fernandez to stay away from the victim if she is ever released from jail at any point.
Fernandez faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, shooting/throwing a deadly missile, resisting an officer with violence and battery of a law enforcement officer, according to jail records.
Retired officer speaks to Local 10 News from attic during standoff
In the five days preceding the incident, Fernandez frequently called Local 10 News reporter Glenna Milberg, whom the former cop had met during a previous story, telling Milberg that she felt her life was in danger from the police department.
Fernandez told Milberg that she was certain people from MDPD was out to kill her.
Local 10 News later spoke to her over the phone during the standoff, as officers shouted commands to her while she remained in the attic.
Here are some excerpts from that phone call:
Milberg: Are you OK?
Fernandez: No, they want to shoot me...don’t shoot...I don’t have. Look at my hands, I have nothing!
Milberg: Who’s there? Who’s there with you?
Fernandez: I’m by myself.
Male on megaphone: Evelyn, crawl out to the hole so we can see you.
Fernandez: Look at my hands.
Male on megaphone: Come into the hole, let’s go. (unintelligble)
Fernandez: I’m on my phone. This is my phone.
Male on megaphone: Ma’am (unintelligible), let’s go. We don’t want to hurt you, we want to get you some help. Alright, let’s go. We can work this out.
Male on megaphone: (unintelligible) I need you to go the left. I see your hands, thank you. Move to the left a little bit, (unintelligible) the opening.
Fernandez: Huh? I can’t. I’m, like, stuck.
Male on megaphone: You’re right. We need you in the opening. The moment you get there we got cold water. We got water for you. We need you to get in the opening.
Fernandez: OK, can you throw some cold water up here?
Fernandez, who was not armed while she was in the attic, said, “Hold on. I can’t see you right now,” before the call ended.
Milberg asked police about mental health based on this week’s conversations with the retired lieutenant.
“Mental health is something that is at the forefront of this profession every day,” MDPD Assistant Director Rosanna Cordero-Stutz said during a news conference following Fernandez’s detainment Friday. “It is in the forefront of this community, specifically in law enforcement, every day. We will continue to work every day and get better at it.”
Previous incident
Back in 2016, charges were dropped against Fernandez, who was accused of breaking into the Coral Gables home of her ex-boyfriend, former Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez.
In that case, Coral Gables police said a witness saw Fernandez in the pool area of the building on Merrick Way, hitting a rear window of the apartment with a floor tile and then throwing the tile into the pool.
Police said there was no forced entry into the apartment, and Fernandez does not have a key to the property.
Fernandez claimed to be at the home to pick up her belongings, police said.
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Joyce Ortega contributed to this story.