MIAMI – The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating a police shooting that occurred Tuesday night in the city of Miami, authorities confirmed.
Miami police Officer Kiara Delva, who is also a spokeswoman for the police department, confirmed that the shooting occurred in the area of Northeast Second Avenue and 25th Street in the city’s Edgewater neighborhood.
Police arrived at a home in the area around 10:30 p.m., where they said they found a 37-year-old woman going through a mental health crisis.
Miami Police Chief Manny Morales says officers entered the unit to speak to the woman and de-escalate the situation when the woman eventually pulled out a knife.
Morales said after multiple attempts of asking to woman to “put the knife down,” two of the three responding officers fired their weapons after she lunged at them with the knife and killed the armed woman.
Dr. Octavo Pino, who claims he is the woman’s landlord, identified her as Mariel Rivera Samuels, although sometimes he refers to her as Mariela.
Pino described Samuels as a reliable tenant who paid her rent on time and enjoyed cooking, often sharing homemade meals with him.
Pino said he was stunned to learn about the shooting, noting that the only unusual behavior she exhibited was complaining about noises from nonexistent upstairs neighbors and requesting to change the locks for safety, which he found odd in hindsight.
Pino also mentioned an argument between Samuels and her roommate, during which the roommate described her as “schizophrenic.” However, Pino claimed that neither he nor the roommate were psychiatrists, so he did not feel comfortable making that assertion.
Pino knew the police had been called and that Samuels was in the hospital but was saddened to learn today that she had died.
“I was watching a movie and I heard three gunshots,” a resident who lives nearby told Local 10 News. “It was like ‘pop, pop, pop.’”
“I wasn’t going to be stupid. I’m just going to stand here and not walk out,” another neighbor said.
Cellphone video from a high rise shows police cars lined up and officers surrounding a small home.
Morales confirmed a woman was killed, but no officers were injured in the shooting.
Miami Fire Rescue crews were seen arriving at the scene before midnight. Miami police officers were also seen gathering during the investigation, securing the scene with yellow crime scene tape and blocking off access to 25th Street from Biscayne Boulevard -- about a block from the deadly scene on Northeast Second Avenue.
No other details about the shooting were immediately released.
A spokesperson for the FDLE confirmed the agency was requested to investigate the shooting by the City of Miami Police Department, but she declined to provide further information as “the investigation is active.”
Listen to Morales’ full statement in the video below.
Statement from Chief of Police Manuel Morales pic.twitter.com/PL0NQHjFmT
— Miami PD (@MiamiPD) June 26, 2024