Man Wanted In Police Shooting Killed In Miami Gardens
MIAMI GARDENS (CBS4) - The body of 24-year old Durell Miller was removed from the doorway of a Miami Gardens home Tuesday morning; this after Miami Dade police said they were forced to shoot him during a standoff that started late Monday night.
The Miami-Dade Police Special Response Team (SRT) surrounded the home at 11pm Monday and managed to get everyone out except for Miller. Police said he refused to leave.
"He approached the front door, opened the front door our SRT officers were speaking to him and ordering him to step out of the residence," said Lt. Rosanna Cordero-Stutz, of Miami Dade Police. "He refused to comply to these demands. Durell Miller then made threatening statements to our officers telling them that he would shoot them with an AK- 47 that he had. At some point during that encounter Durell Miller reached down in a threatening manner and our officers, our SRT officers were forced to shoot him."
But Miller's relatives don't believe that is how the take down happened. They took CBS4 News reporter Tiffani Helberg on an exclusive tour of their ransacked home including the battered entryway to the attack.
"My brother was unarmed," said Unva Miller, Durell's brother. "He was hiding in the attic cause he was scared for his life."
Unva Miller pointed to a trail of bullet holes from the attic way to the front door. He believes police dragged his brother to the front door and shot him there. There bullet holes could be seen through a pool of blood at the entryway.
Jerena Durham was Durell Miller's girlfriend. She said she was in the house at the time police arrived.
"Durell, he didn't have no type of weapon or anything," said Durham. "He went up in the attic and they brought us out the house and I heard gun shots they shot him and he didn't have any weapon."
Police said the shooting is under investigation and would not confirm if they found a weapon at the home. Miller's family members did show CBS4 two toy guns that they said police uncovered but did not take away as evidence.
Miami-Dade police said they couldn't take any chances with Miller after their incident with him on Friday. That's when they said two undercover officers pulled him over and were shot at by Miller. They said Miller was involved in a shoot out in which one officer was shot in the foot and a second in the baseball cap, narrowly missing his head.
Miller does have a significant rap sheet of mostly battery and drug charges.
