Miami-Dade police director ‘critical but stable’ after shooting himself

MIAMI -- Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez was in a hospital in the Tampa area Monday morning in “stable” condition after apparently shooting himself the night before, according to an internal Miami-Dade Police email and multiple law enforcement sources.

The email, in which the Ramirez family thanked police for calls, messages and prayer, also urged police officers to stay in Miami and avoid overcrowding the Tampa hospital and says the director remains in “stable” condition. “Please continue to pray for his comfort and healing during these upcoming days,” it reads.

Miami-Dade Police also publicly released a brief statement early Monday morning saying the director is in “critical but stable condition.”

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister told Tampa TV station WFLA that Ramirez shot himself Sunday night during a domestic dispute after stopping his car along Interstate 75 south of Tampa, where a sheriff’s conference was underway.

Ramirez, 52, a Miami-Dade Police lifer who rose through the ranks of the largest police department in the Southeast U.S. and who has filed to run for county sheriff next year, was in Tampa attending a Florida Sheriff’s Association conference, which began on Sunday.

It remained unclear as of Monday morning whether the gunshot wound was self-inflicted or accidental but the incident shocked people who know and work with Ramirez, a highly regarded commander who had risen through his ranks over the decades. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who last year made Ramirez a senior deputy overseeing both the Police and Fire Rescue departments as chief of safety and emergency response, flew to Tampa overnight, a spokesperson confirmed.

Though the agency remained mostly tight-lipped about the circumstances that sent Ramirez to the hospital Sunday night, law enforcement sources with knowledge of the incident said Ramirez had pulled over somewhere along a highway between Tampa and Miami when he shot himself.

“He’s in the hospital and they’re working on him,” said Steadman Stahl, president of South Florida Police Benevolent Association told the Miami Herald early Monday morning. “Our prayers are with his family right now. We don’t know exactly what happened.”

What led to the incident wasn’t immediately clear. A Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman said her office did not have an incident report on Ramirez and that the Florida Highway Patrol was handling it. Midmorning Monday, FHP’s Tampa office released a brief statement saying they’re investigating an incident involving Ramirez on I-75 south of Tampa.

“FDLE Agents and Troopers were on scene and will continue conducting investigative interviews today. Director Ramirez suffered serious injuries and is hospitalized. No one else was injured. There is no threat to the community. Our investigation is active,” an FHP Spokesperson said.

Miami-Dade Police issued a brief statement at 2 a.m. ET, saying they had been advised by Tampa Police that Ramirez had suffered a “critical injury.” The agency said the incident is being investigated by the Florida Highway Patrol and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

“We understand he is currently undergoing surgery. We ask you to please keep him in your prayers,” the statement read. By 10 a.m. ET Monday the statement had updated Ramirez’s condition.

Police did not say where the shooting took place. Sources told The Herald that police in Tampa had earlier engaged with Ramirez after a report of some type of altercation, but they believe the shooting took place after officers had left. Ramirez had traveled to Tampa to attend the sheriff’ association’s Summer Conference, the group’s largest yearly event, with his wife.

Ramirez, a Democrat, announced in May he was running for sheriff in 2024 to try to retain his role as the county’s top law enforcement official. He was named police director in 2020 under then-Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

He joined Miami-Dade police in 1995 and worked his way up from patrol duty to deputy director after working at the side of former Director Juan Perez, before he was named to the top post. He was raised by grandparents who fled the Fidel Castro regime and his parents in Hialeah, according to his biography in sheriff’s campaign literature.

In 2015, one of Ramirez’s predecessors, Robert Parker, had killed himself behind his North Miami-Dade home, six years after he retired. Parker, who also rose through the ranks, was the county’s first Black police director.

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(Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report)