Miami Beach Police Operation Nabs Suspect Wanted In Armed Robbery
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - An army of cops engaged in a standoff on Miami Beach Tuesday with a man wielding a large knife. It began with a flurry of urgent calls to the police station and 911.
"One came in from an officer, and initially from the manager at the McDonald's at Lincoln Road and Washington Avenue, indicating that two males were fighting, one of whom had a knife. Simultaneously we also received a 911 call in that area of an armed robbery," said Miami Beach police spokesperson Ernesto Rodriguez.
An officer chased the guy with the knife to a nearby parking garage that was quickly surrounded by police. Back at the scene of the original confrontation, fire rescue treated a man who appeared to have an injury or wound to his left forearm.
With streets blocked, tourists couldn't get to their hotels.
A couple visiting from Australia said the scene playing out before them in broad daylight on Collins Avenue was alien to them. "It's not common at all in Australia," the wife said. "Not even during the night," added her husband.
A bell hop had trundled some visitors' bags to a cab, then found himself locked out of work by police blocking the street and sidewalk.
"It's really hard, because I'm working over here. An officer saw me come this way, I'm coming back now, but she said no," the hotel worker said, exasperated.
The man police were hunting, trapped like a rat, with a police helicopter circling overhead, surrendered after about an hour and a half. The drama another violent episode for those who live and work on the beach.
"It's crazy. It's crazy. I'm at a loss for words," said Jose Borrero, A beach resident and worker.
Police have not said, but a witness who spoke off camera, and did not give his name, said the man with the knife, a homeless person, was trying to rob another man, apparently also homeless, of a six pack of beer.