Video exclusively obtained by NBC6 Investigators reveals some of what happened when Miami-Dade Police raided a Miami Springs hotel room on August 16, 2022.
The raid left 34-year-old Jaime Robles dead after a shooting witnessed by his two young sons.
Less than 24 hours earlier, a Miami-Dade Police detective, Cesar Echaverry, had been shot during a confrontation with an armed robbery suspect, Jeremy Horton. Both men died from their injuries.
Police believed Robles and Horton were involved in an armed robbery in Broward County earlier that day. The car Horton was driving was traced back to Robles, and the Extended Stay America hotel on Fairway Drive in Miami Springs.
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
Miami-Dade Police Special Response Team was called to the hotel to execute a search warrant in room 239, where Robles was staying with his girlfriend, her teenage son and his two and three-year old sons.
Body camera video shows the perspective of Officer Anthony Jimenez as the team burst into the room. Officers are seen trying to open the door with a room key before the security latch stops the door from opening, according to records from the investigation. They then use a hammer to break in, the video shows.
Investigations
The NBC 6 Investigators get results
“Search warrant! Search warrant! Hands up! Hands up!,” officers are heard shouting once they are entering the hotel room, along with flash bangs detonating.
As officers enter, Robles is in the bathroom and can be seen through the viewing window of Officer Jimenez’ shield. He appears to be just out of the shower, naked with both hands in the air. At points in the video Jimenez’ shield obstructs the view as he shoots Robles several times.
“Subject is down. Subject is down. Right here in the bathroom,” Jimenez is heard saying. Robles’ sons were in the room during the shooting just feet from where their father was shot. They can be heard screaming in the background.
At that point, Officer Jimenez is heard shouting commands at Robles again, “Hands! Let me see your hands,” he yells, before firing several more times at Robles who is now on the floor. At the time, one of Robles’ children is seen in the reflection of Jimenez’ shield – as another officer carries him out of the room.
“He moved his f--- hands man,” Jimenez can be heard saying. “Not sure if he had something in his hands.”
On the bathroom vanity, was an AK-47 style rifle, which a witness told investigators was left there by Horton.
Records from the investigation show Officer Jimenez fired sixteen times, hitting Robles all over his body, including his head, neck, and chest.
Officer Anthony Jimenez remains on duty. Requests for an interview with Jimenez and the Miami-Dade Police Department were declined. A spokesperson for the department cited an ongoing internal investigation into the incident.
NO CHARGES AGAINST THE OFFICER
In December of 2023, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office declined to charge Officer Jimenez for his role in the shooting.
In a memo, prosecutors wrote: “There is insufficient evidence to make a clear determination that the shooting was legally justified. Likewise, because of this lack of evidence, there is also insufficient information to file any criminal charges against Officer Jimenez that can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Jimenez declined to provide a statement to investigators after the shooting, on the advice of his attorney, according to the memo. Prosecutors noted without a statement from Jimenez detailing “…What was in his mind before the shooting,” they could not speculate, “…On his knowledge or intent in firing his weapon.”
“He has his hands in the air. He's just out of the shower and you shoot him anyway,” said Hilton Napoleon II, the lawyer representing the boys, who also voiced concerns about the dangers the raid posted to the public.
Records from the FDLE investigation show other hotel guests reported concerns, and some called 911 after several bullets came through walls into their bathroom.
“You have to be able to de-escalate it,” Napoleon said.
MOTHER REACTS
The boys’ mother, Gretchen Santiago, recently watched for the first time, video of what her sons witnessed that day.
“It’s sad to know these kids had to go through that,” she said.
She told NBC6 Investigators both boys have been traumatized by the experience.
“They are not okay,” she said, “Especially the oldest one…He remembers more.”
She expressed concerns about how police managed the situation, knowing there were small children inside at the time.
“It’s not okay,” she said, “They are innocent, defenseless children.”
“What if one of those children would have got shot and killed?” asked Napoleon, who said the family is currently weighing their legal options.
According to recorded interviews, officers were aware the children were inside the room as well as the gun.
“We were told that he was in a hotel room with two small kids and that he had an AK-47 and possibly other weapons,” one officer told an FDLE investigator after the shooting.
Officers knew those details before entering the room, because they had detained and questioned Robles’ girlfriend and her teenage son when they spotted them leaving the room.
The girlfriend told investigators in recorded statements that Horton, who she said they had met a week prior, had been staying in the hotel with them for several days. She told Robles lent him the car the day before and Horton never returned.
The girlfriend’s son told investigators Horton had brought the rifle into the hotel room, something which concerned Robles because of the presence of his children.
He told an FDLE investigator Robles said, “Listen, I have kids here. Please get that s--- (rifle) out of my house.”
THE ARMED ROBBERY
According to investigation reports, the chain of events began with an armed robbery a day before, the afternoon of August 15th.
A clerk at the 911 Food Store in Dania Beach reported two masked gunmen entered the store and demanded money before taking off in a white Hyundai.
The clerk provided a photo of the car’s tag to BSO detectives who traced the vehicle to the Extended Stay America hotel in Miami Springs.
Later that evening, Miami-Dade Police located the vehicle at the hotel and tried to stop the car at NW 62 Street and NW 17 Avenue. Officers say 32-year-old Jeremy Horton was behind the wheel, led officers on a chase before taking off on foot. The confrontation ended with an exchange of gunfire led to the deaths of both Detective Cesar Echaverry and Jeremy Horton.
Police suspected both Horton and Robles had been involved in the armed robbery in Broward.
On September 14, a month after Robles was shot and killed in his hotel room, BSO investigators obtained cellphone records, which showed Robles’ phone was in the area of the 911 Food Store at the time and date of the armed robbery, according to records provided by the department.
‘HE WAS NOT THERE’
In recorded interviews with FDLE investigators, some of the officers involved in the raid said they were told the man in the room was involved in the shooting of their colleague a day before.
When asked about the search warrant, Officer Jose Hernandez told investigators it was “involving a subject that was involved in yesterday’s evening’s police involved shooting.”
“He was not there,” Napoleon said. “So, you can’t say that the man was involved in a crime where he wasn’t even present.”
THE VIDEO VS THE RECORDS
The day after the hotel shooting, Miami-Dade Police sent a press release. This is, in part, how they described what happened inside room 239. “According to investigators, once officers made entry inside a hotel room, a confrontation ensued with a subject who was armed with an AK-47 style rifle. The armed subject was subsequently shot and pronounced deceased on scene by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.”
The video does not show Robles holding the AK-47 style rifle at any point.
The FDLE investigation states officers are heard on the recordings announcing “Police! Search warrant!” prior to making entry to the hotel room. But that’s not what video from the incident shows, according to several people who reviewed it.
“They started to say what sounds like what sounds like room service, and before they even finish service, apparently the security latch was engaged and then they just busted down the door,” according to Michael Feiler, a board-certified civil trial lawyer who is not involved with this case.
“Under the statute, you’re supposed to announce your presence and why you’re there,” he explained, “Search warrant.”
But video shows, officers in this case did not say that until after they break in the door and step into the room.
“This is the special response team they train to do this every day,” said Michael D’Angelo, a retired police captain who served 25 years with South Miami Police. He said officers have discretion when it comes to search warrants.
“If doing so and following the normal procedures of a search warrant execution can present a clear enhanced danger to the officers that are serving the warrant,” he added.
He said the rifle’s location on the bathroom counter is critical to understand the use of deadly force in this case.
“We’re talking about something that is literally steps or seconds away from being in the possession of an assailant and used against law enforcement.”
Feiler understands prosecutors’ decision there was not enough evidence for criminal charges, but says the shooting leaves him with concerns, “I think the scenario here is ambiguous enough to create some questions,” he said, “You got a guy with no clothes on standing with his hands up. The only way to justify shooting him is if he makes a move for a weapon.”
D’Angelo sees it differently, “It looks like compliance. But there’s a lot that we can’t see because of the video being blocked by the shield and how fast this is moving.”
Feiler also raised concerns about Officer Jimenez shooting Robles several more times once injured on the bathroom floor.
“If somebody is down and injured, if there is no threat to officers, you don't continue to use deadly force,” he said.
Both men noted discrepancies in the FDLE investigative report and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office close-out memo.
The FDLE specifically mentioned seeing Robles’ hands in the air. The State Attorney’s Office memo did not, just saying the view was “obstructed by his shield which only has a narrow viewing slit.”
“It should be a concern to anyone why that piece, that pivotal piece of information is not highlighted in one report and is clearly mentioned in the other,” D’Angelo said.
Feiler agrees, “whether inadvertent or not, that is a concern.”
THE OFFICER
Jimenez has been involved in two other fatal shootings during police operations since 2018. In both of those cases, prosecutors said the men were armed. In each of those cases, Jimenez also declined to speak with investigators and prosecutors cited a lack of evidence to either determine the shootings were legally justified, or to file criminal charges. Like any regular citizen, officers have the right to not provide a statement.
Officer Jimenez’ attorney declined a request for comment.
