HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A grieving mother said the man who died after a Miami-Dade police officer shot him on Thursday in Homestead was Gabriel Rodriguez, a 33-year-old robbery suspect and convicted felon.
The shooting was at about 10 p.m., at a two-story building west of Northwest Second Street and North Krome Avenue near the Homestead Police Department’s headquarters. Residents heard loud knocking on the door of Apartment 5.
A woman said she heard three shots fired. According to Detective Argemis Colome, the police officer who fired his weapon has been with the department for five years and is with the department’s Robbery Intervention Detail.
“RID detectives located the subject armed with a sharp object,” Colome wrote in a statement. “A confrontation ensued and one of the RID detectives discharged his firearm striking the subject.”
Witnesses said they saw fire rescue personnel take Rodriguez away in an ambulance.
“The subject was transported to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,” Colome wrote also adding that The Florida Department of Law Enforcement had recovered the “sharp object.”
A tow truck removed Rodriguez’s Nissan from the parking lot.
Rodriguez had made headlines over crimes. In 2016, he was the subject of the “Miami beer bandit arrested after dropping phone, police say” story when he was 25. In 2022, he was also the “Man accused of assaulting Doral police officer during traffic stop, fleeing scene” when he was 30.
According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Rodriguez, also known as Gabriel Rodriguez-Gelpi or Gabriel Gelpi, has nine 2023 convictions in Miami-Dade County, including seven in 2022 and two in 2021. He was sentenced to two years in prison and released on March 10. His probation was set to end on March 9, 2025.
After Rodriguez died, there was a heavy police presence for hours on Thursday night and into Friday morning at the two-story building where the police officer shot him. According to the FDLE, MDPD requested assistance after the shooting. According to HPD, Homestead police officers assisted MDPD.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
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