Police in Miami were injured in an ambush style shootng lead the morning news in Florida
Miami officers wounded in ‘ambush-style’ shooting
MIAMI (AP) — Two Miami-Dade County police officers have been wounded in what authorities called “an ambush-style” shooting.
Authorities say the plainclothes officers were shot Monday night while investigating at the Annie Coleman Apartments on the city’s north side. The officers were part of the Homicide Task Force-Gang Unit.
Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez says fellow officers used a pickup truck to bring their wounded colleagues to the hospital. Perez says they are listed in stable condition and expected to survive.
A news release sent Tuesday morning says one officer was shot in the leg and the other was hit in the arm. Authorities say at least one of the officers returned fire.
No suspects were arrested. Perez urged anyone with information about the shooting to contact authorities.
Coast Guard to offload seized cocaine at Port Everglades
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard will be offloading a large amount of cocaine seized in international waters over a 26-day period.
The agency plans a 10 a.m. news conference at Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades to discuss the interdiction of approximately 16 tons (14.51 metric tons) of cocaine. The drugs have a wholesale value of $420 million.
In a news release, the agency says the drugs were seized along Central and South America by Coast Guard and Canadian ships sailing with an embarked Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment team. It consisted of 17 separate suspected drug smuggling vessel interdictions.
2 deputies lose jobs after school employee stunned
LEESBURG, Fla. (AP) — Officials say two school resource deputies in central Florida have lost their jobs for trying to cover up an incident where a school employee was accidentally shot with a stun gun.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that the Lake County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday that Master Deputy Raymond Mattiucci resigned March 8, and Deputy Darrell Blanton was fired March 15.
A sheriff’s office internal investigation found that Mattiucci accidentally deployed his stun gun Jan. 31 when a Leesburg High School security monitor asked him how far it could shoot. A report says Blanton then colluded with Mattiucci to cover up the accident, which caused the monitor to fall unconscious and break his wrist. Another school employee was reportedly “terrified” to come forward.