MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A family is seeking answers after they said just days after Thanksgiving, Miami-Dade police shot and killed a grandfather of three young children.
Loved ones say it happened while he was with his teenage son, trying to protect their property from intruders.
“We were on our property, trying to protect our property because someone was trying to rob us,” said Osvaldo Cueli III, the victim’s son.
“They are covering up my dad’s death,” added Gabriela Cueli, the victim’s daughter.
They are siblings gripped by the trauma of seeing their father, Osvaldo Cueli, shot dead in their driveway.
The Cuelis said that the account of the shooting from officers is at friction with what they witnessed and what they captured on video.
“The only person that didn’t make it home was my dad and he was home,” said Osvaldo Cueli III. “There was no cop lights, there were no sirens.”
“Someone came into our property and my dad drove out to chase them,” said Gabriela Cueli.
“I know, we pulled over, we identified ourselves and he took out a gun on us,” an officer is heard saying in the video.
“He never pulled out his gun,” Osvaldo Cueli III countered.
The shooting occurred on Nov. 29.
Osvaldo Cueli III was with his father, managing the family’s large Redland property, when he said they spotted two people trespassing.
“We beeped like this…then they hopped the gate. I hopped the gate after them to get a picture of their tag, but I didn’t get it,” said Osvaldo Cueli III, adding that his father returned to the home to arm himself.
Then, as the two approached an area of their property, the 19-year-old saw two vehicles approach with at least one person inside firing at them.
“I just see two black Ram trucks go against traffic,” said Osvaldo Cueli III. “I hopped the gate and I ran over there because they were still shooting at me. We could not tell they were police.”
He said an officer was firing at them through the windshield of the unmarked police unit.
“Starts shooting out the window without putting on any lights, nothing. There was no cop lights, there were no sirens, he didn’t say anything, never announced himself,” said Osvaldo Cueli III.
At the time of the incident, police said detectives with their Illegal Dumping Unit responded to a call about a possible stolen car. They said shots were fired and a firearm was recovered.
Osvaldo Cueli III said the gun his father got from the home was on his waist.
“It was on his waist -- you could see it,” he said. “If he had reached for it, you would have seen him reach for it, but he never did that.”
Osvaldo Cueli III said bullets whizzed by him as he jumped over the fence back to their house, where his older sister spotted him.
“He looked very scared,” said Gabriela Cueli.
She then took out her phone and began recording.
“They just tried robbing us and why is my dad on the ground?” she is heard asking the officers.
“I was face-to-face with his body. I saw his eyes roll back into his head. They never once tried to save him,” she said.
“No lights, no uniforms,” said Osvaldo Cueli III. “Plain clothing and a holster, just like my dad was dressed.”
The Cueli family said they are seeking a full accounting of the events leading up to the death of Osvaldo Cueli.
“I am still in shock, I am still scared. We just want justice for my dad is all,” said Gabriela Cueli, adding that justice, in her opinion, would be, “for them to lose their job and go to jail.”
In a statement, Miami-Dade police said “no information can be disclosed” because there is still an open “professional compliance bureau investigation.”
A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told Local 10 News that their investigation remains active “and no conclusions have been made.”
“He was there with my dad in that moment,” Gabriela Cueli said of her brother. “He feels like he should have never run away, but if he didn’t run away, he would have been dead too. They were shooting to kill.”