With the investigation ongoing, Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito could only say "some type of confrontation" occured Friday night in Overtown between a man shot to death and SWAT team officers.
But the deceased, 27-year-old Lynn Weatherspoon, is the 6th such police casualty in less than a year, and angry residents say they are still seeking answers for the previous five incidents as they publicly question the circumstances of Weatherspoon's death.
Police say they had no choice but to fire on Weatherspoon, but neighbors at the scene and a Saturday night rally said police did not identify themselves -- and many are questioning Exposito's decision to send SWAT teams into Overtown as a preventative measure.
Officers received a call reporting shots fired near Northwest First Place and 15th Street around 1:45 a.m. Celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve is not uncommon, but the police response was highly unusual: two dark, unmarked SUVs full of SWAT team members, normally used only in tactically complicated situations such as those involving hostages, rolled up on a group of men in the area.
Weatherspoon, who was carrying a loaded 9mm pistol, fled on foot. Police say he turned after about half a block and pointed his gun at an officer.
That officer, 26-year-old Maurice Sodre, fired his assault-style weapon in response, killing Weatherspoon and riddling a home behind him with bullets.
“He ran and panicked. He was drunk,” said Weatherspoon's friend Thurmon Johnson, who witnessed the shooting. “When he ran that’s when they shot him out the window cold-blooded. They didn’t even say ‘freeze’, they didn’t say none of that.”
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Family members said Weatherspoon was simply returning from the store when the incident began. He was, however, carrying a gun illegally. He had served two multi-year sentences for cocaine trafficking and armed robbery, and as such was prohibited from owning a firearm.
At a candlelight vigil held later the same evening, community activist Rev. Jerome Starling said Exposito's decision to place SWAT teams in Overtown was a fatal mistake.
"This just goes to show you that there is ignorance in the police department. We need to get rid of this chief of police,'' he told the Miami Herald. "Where is the gang unit? Where is the narcotics unit? That is their job."
Sodre has been placed on administrated leave until the investigation is complete, as per police policy.
