Three officers from three different law enforcement agencies were being treated at Memorial Regional Hospital Thursday after a shooting on Florida’s Turnpike between Pembroke Road and Hollywood Boulevard.
A off-duty Key Biscayne Police officer and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent were shot on the Turnpike, while a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy broke her leg in a separate car crash en route to the scene.
Key Biscayne Police Officer Nelia Real is in stable condition after she was shot in the neck, Key Biscayne Police Chief Charles Press said.
"We are very fortunate. It appears that the wounds have missed all of the vital organs based on the information that the doctors have just provided me," Press said.
FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Donovan said “the suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound."
The incident started with a carjacking in Miami-Dade at about 2:20 p.m. and then an armed robbery of a barber shop in Pembroke Pines, Donovan said.
Shots were fired in the robbery, and then the suspect carjacked a second vehicle, a G-35 Infiniti. He then drove onto the Turnpike and crashed into another car, Donovan said.
Officials believe that after the crash, he looked for another car to help him get away.
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Real was on her way home when "she thought she saw a traffic accident, and she was just trying to do her job," Press said. She has been with the department for about 16 years.
He said a young man, who he believed was from the Broward Sheriff's Office, quickly took her to the hospital.
"She may owe that officer her life. His quick action rushing her to the hospital knowing that traffic was going to be terrible and rescue getting there could have taken a long time, it was something that he felt he needed to do, and obviously she is in good hands now," Press said.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was also shot in the shoulder but his injuries were non-life-threatening, sources told NBC 6. The officer works in enforcement and removal operations, the federal agency said.
That agent, like Real, was just responding to the accident, Donovan said.
Press said she was intubated and is being stabilized at the hospital, with family members by her side.
She entered the emergency room holding her neck and talking, a nurse said.
"She was conscious when she arrived. She was keeping pressure on her own wound," Press said.
She will be kept sedated for several days until doctors can establish the extent of her wounds in her neck and facial area, he said.
The FBI is handling the investigation.
“We are not currently looking for additional suspects at this time," Donovan said.
According to a witness and sources, the suspect crashed into another car, got out of his vehicle and started walking down the Turnpike with a weapon. That's when the officers saw him and stopped.
The incident brought rush-hour traffic to a stop on the Turnpike, with numerous police vehicles on the scene just south of Exit 49, the Hollywood Boulevard exit. Traffic had been backed up to Griffin Road on the southbound side of the Turnpike, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.
Some drivers and commuters stood outside their cars on the highway, unable to go anywhere, aerial footage showed.
The Turnpike was closed on the southbound side from I-595 and on the northbound side from the Miami-Dade County line, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.
Northbound Turnpike traffic was being diverted at Golden Glades and southbound at I-595, Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Mark Wysocky said.
He said he expected the traffic detours to continue into at least Thursday's early hours.
Stay with NBCMiami.com for updates.
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