Miami-Dade Police Director Ramirez’s ‘critical injury’ a sad and shocking event | Opinion
Miami-Dade residents woke up Monday to shocking news: The county’s top cop, Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez, apparently shot himself, suffering a “critical injury” after being stopped by police outside Tampa.
As of this writing Monday afternoon, Ramirez is in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the temple. We wish Ramirez, his family and our law enforcement community, where Ramirez, 52, is well-known, the very best.
Ramirez and his wife had been attending the Sheriff’s Summer Conference, the largest yearly event for the Florida Sheriff’s Association.
Sources say that police in Tampa confronted Ramirez after some type of domestic dispute. The couple was asked to leave the hotel Sunday night. The shooting occurred on the side of the road on I-75 as the couple drove home, where those who know him best try to make sense of what led to shooting.
Ramirez started out as a street cop in 1995 and spent the past 28 years climbing up through the ranks. He was named to the top job in 2020. Today, his department has 1,100 members and a total of 4,500 employees.
South Florida knows Ramirez from his appearances at many televised crime-related news conferences, where he keeps the public calm and informed. Ramirez was front and center following the Surfside condo collapse in 2021.
In May, Ramirez announced that he would be running for the created post of Miami-Dade sheriff, which is now an elected position. He is known to be a fierce defender of his department and its officers and a trusted member of Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s team. She rushed to Tampa early Monday.
It’s been a busy time for Ramirez, who has been campaigning for the sheriff’s post and is part of the mayor’s effort to keep the Miami-Dade police department under the auspices of county government. All that may be in peril now. Miami-Dade is the only county in the state without an elected sheriff after voters eliminated the position after a 1966 grand jury report revealed racketeering and bribery within the department. Statewide, voters re-established the post in 2018.
Levine Cava last year made Ramirez a senior deputy overseeing both the police and fire-rescue departments as chief of safety and emergency response.
This tragic incident has strong personal and professional implications for Ramirez, but if he drops out of the sheriff’s race, there is also potential political jockeying ahead, with the possibility of a wide-open field in the race.
Ramirez, a Democrat, declared early, likely to discourage other candidates from running. With his years of experience, he appeared to be the best qualified candidate.
His candidacy gives Levine Cava the chance to turn over the county police department to a top deputy in her administration and for the Democratic Party to have a high-profile law enforcement administrator.
Ramirez is the second person whose plans may be derailed. Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez had long expressed his interest in running for sheriff, but he has been indicted for allegedly accepting bribes, an allegation that he denies.
Ramirez’s self-inflicted injuries are not the first time a current or former Miami-Dade police chief was involved in such a shooting. In 2015, Robert Parker, the first African American to lead the Miami-Dade police, died by suicide six years after his retirement.
There remains much that we don’t know about this sad turn of events. No matter what eventually comes to light, however, we urge the entire community to wish Ramirez, a dedicated public servant, Godspeed.
