Holly MatkinMiami, FL – The Miami-Dade police detective who was shot in the head during a shootout with an armed robbery suspect late Monday night is not expected to survive.
According to a department-wide email issued on Tuesday afternoon, 29-year-old Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) Detective Cesar Echaverry remains in “extremely critical condition,” the Miami Herald reported.
“Please keep the Echaverry family in your thoughts and prayers,” read the message, which was sent out by MDPD Director Alfredo Ramirez’s executive assistant, Annette McCully.
McCully also included information about the Police Officers Assistance Trust, which is collecting donations for the wounded officer’s family, the Miami Herald reported.
Multiple law enforcement sources told the Miami Herald that the young detective has been declared brain dead and that he is not expected to recover from his injuries.
Police said Det. Echaverry’s parents have been with their son at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s neurological Intensive Care Unit (ICU) since shortly after he was shot in the line of duty, the Miami Herald reported.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Director Ramirez spoke with reporters about the attack shortly after midnight on Aug. 16, the Miami Herald reported.
They said the wounded hero was in “very, very critical condition,” according to FOX News.
“He was critically shot by an armed subject while protecting his community,” Director Ramirez told reporters, according to the Miami Herald. “We need the community to please stand as one and pray.”
South Florida Police Benevolent Association (PBA) President Steadman Stahl acknowledged that the detective’s prognosis was “not looking good.”
The detective is a member of the MDPD’s Robbery Intervention Detail (RID), which focuses of apprehending fugitives and those accused of committing violent offenses, the Miami Herald reported.
RID detectives generally patrol the city’s high-crime areas and use unmarked vehicles.
Law enforcement sources said police were searching for a white car on Aug. 15 after an armed robbery took place at a convenience store in Dania Beach, the Miami Herald reported.
Police said officers ultimately located the suspect vehicle at a Miami Springs hotel.
Detectives stopped the car near 67th Street and Northwest 17th Avenue in the Liberty City neighborhood at approximately 8:15 p.m. on Monday, FOX News reported.
Police said the suspect refused to exit the vehicle and “barricaded” himself inside before he began slamming the car into multiple MDPD vehicles “in an attempt to flee,” according to the Miami Herald.
A brief pursuit ensued, but the gunman ultimately crashed into a passing vehicle and a pole near 7th Avenue and Northwest 62nd Street.
Police said the RID detective pulled his SUV within inches of the suspect’s vehicle in an attempt to block him in and had just gotten out of his patrol unit when he was shot in the head, according to the Miami Herald.
The alleged gunman was fatally wounded by police moments later.
His identity was not immediately released.
Investigators said it was unclear how many rounds were fired during the shootout.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is handling the ongoing investigation into the incident, the Miami Herald reported.
Three people who were inside the vehicle the suspect slammed into were transported to the hospital in stable condition, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The wounded detective was immediately rushed to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he continued to cling to life early Tuesday morning.
