Former MDPD lieutenant who barricaded self in home arrested after 16-hour standoff

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    SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Florida (WSVN) — A former Miami-Dade Police officer accused of shooting at her boyfriend was taken into custody and placed under arrest after she barricaded herself in a Southwest Miami-Dade home, ending an hours-long standoff.

MDPD officers surrounded the home in the area of 174th Street and Southwest 142nd Place, Friday morning.

SWAT teams also arrived at the scene and a command post was established in the area by officers.

“She barricaded herself in this residence and refused to come and comply with the demands of the officers,” said MDPD Assistant Director Rosanna Cordero-Stutz.

Police identified the subject as retired MDPD Lt. Evelyn Fernandez.

Police said this all began on Thursday, just before 6:30 p.m., when they responded to the area of Southwest 282nd Street and 167th Avenue after receiving reports of a shooting.

“Girlfriend shooting at complainant’s white F-150, the subject is in a gray Jeep,” said a dispatcher over Broadcastify police scanner.

Police received a ShotSpotter alert in addition to a 911 call.

“A gray Jeep, female driver armed with a gun chasing a white pickup,” said a dispatcher over Broadcastify police scanner.

When officers arrived, they discovered that Fernandez shot at her ex-boyfriend.

“He was in his vehicle at the time. Luckily, he was not injured, there was damage to the vehicle,” Cordero-Stutz said.

Investigators said Fernandez then fled the scene.

No injuries were reported.

Late Thursday night, police learned Fernandez was holed up in a home. MDPD’s Special Response Team spent hours trying to convince her to surrender, to no avail.

“They were saying, ‘Can you please come out with your hands up?’ And, ‘Were here to help you, we’re your family,’” said witness Juan Rodriguez.

“During that time, there were moments when she appeared that she was going to be cooperative, and then she would not be cooperative,” Cordero-Stutz said.

The standoff forced the entire neighborhood into a standstill. No one could come in or leave.

“Four-thirty in the morning, I go to work, — I work for Publix, manager — and I was [getting] into my car, and an officer comes up to the window and says, ‘You can’t go to work,’” said Rodriguez.

All residents could do was watch as officers tore the home apart, breaking down the front windows and doors of and at one point sending a robot inside for surveillance. Officers wearing gas masks sent smoke from the roof of the house in an attempt to get Fernandez out.

“During that time, there were also shots fired in that house by Ms. Fernandez,” Cordero-Stutz said.

After 16 hours, at around 2 p.m. on Friday, the standoff came to an end, and Fernandez was taken into custody.

“She resisted arrest until the last moment that we placed handcuffs on her,” Rosanna Cordero-Stutz said.

Cellphone video captured Fernandez as she was pulled from the attic of the home and lying on the roof with her hands tied behind her back.

Officers got her down and put her in the back of a cruiser shortly after.

A police report states the now damaged house is the home of the boyfriend of Fernandez’s daughter.

This isn’t the first time a rocky relationship involving Fernandez has made the news. In April of 2016, her ex-boyfriend, former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery after being accused by Fernandez of domestic violence. Alvarez’s charges were eventually dropped after Fernandez failed to testify against him during his court appearance.

In July of the same year, Fernandez was charged with breaking and ransacking for allegedly breaking into Alvarez’s apartment.

Investigators said Fernandez’s most recent ex-boyfriend is also a retired police officer, but they did not specify from which agency and have not released his name.

Fernandez was booked into jail and faces charges of attempted murder, discharging a firearm from a vehicle and resisting an officer with violence.

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