1986 FBI Miami shootout

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1986 FBI Miami shootout
1986 FBI Miami shootout
Jerry Dove and Ben Grogan,
the FBI agents killed during the shootout
Location Miami, Florida, USA
Date April 11, 1986
09:23 (UTC-5)
Attack type Resisting arrest
Weapon(s) Ruger Mini-14, S&W M586 revolver, Dan Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, S&W M3000 shotgun
Deaths 4 (both perpetrators,
two FBI agents)
Injured 5
Perpetrator(s) William Russell Matix† and
Michael Platt†

The FBI Miami shootout was a gun battle that occurred on April 11, 1986 in unincorporated Miami, Florida between multiple FBI agents and two heavily armed and well-trained suspects. The firefight claimed the lives of special agents Gerald Dove and Benjamin Grogan, as well as the two suspects, William Russell Matix and Michael Platt. In addition, five other agents were severely injured during the gunfight.

The incident is infamous for a number of well-documented reasons: first, despite outnumbering the suspects 3 to 1, the agents found themselves pinned down by rifle fire. Secondly, the suspects were not incapacitated by repeated traumatic hits from the agents' standard-issue handguns and, thirdly, continued to fight after being shot.

Contents

[edit] Background

The FBI agents were investigating a series of violent bank robberies and armored car heists, resulting in the death of one guard which occurred over the previous six months linked to the two suspects, and had reason to believe they drove a 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, a car they had stolen after shooting the owner multiple times and leaving him for dead.

The suspects, whose names would not become known until after the shootout, had met each other in while serving in the U.S. Army. Matix had been a military policeman, while Platt had served in the special forces as an airborne ranger. Both men had been previously married to women who had died under mysterious circumstances,[1] and ran a landscaping business which they used a front to launder their stolen money.

On April 11, agents manned ten cars on the lookout for the suspect vehicle. At about 9 a.m., agents Grogan and Dove spotted the vehicle, and began to follow it. Two other cars joined them, and eventually an attempt was made to conduct a felony traffic stop of the suspects car, which was forced off the road. The shootout then began.

[edit] Weapons

[edit] Suspects

[edit] FBI

[edit] The shootout

Relative positions of FBI agents' and suspects' vehicles after felony car stop at 12201 Southwest 82nd Avenue, Kendall, Miami, Florida. Illustration is not to scale.
Relative positions of FBI agents' and suspects' vehicles after felony car stop at 12201 Southwest 82nd Avenue, Kendall, Miami, Florida. Illustration is not to scale.

Immediately after being forced off the road, Platt began firing his Mini-14 from the car, while Matix fired a single round from a shotgun. Matix was soon hit twice by the agents, and he was apparently knocked unconscious. He fired no more shots throughout the battle. Platt, however, had already injured two agents with the rifle.

Platt climbed out a car window, and was hit several times, yet he continued fighting, now firing a revolver. He also continued to use the rifle, despite injuries to his right hand and arm, and caused agents more injuries, including a shot to the neck which left agent McNeill paralyzed. Another shot struck agent Dove's pistol, rendering it inoperative.

Military-trained, Platt aggressively advanced on Grogan and Dove's car, which they (so far uninjured) were using for cover. Reaching their position, he continued firing the rifle. Platt killed Grogan with a shot to the chest, shot agent Hanlon in the hand and groin, and then killed agent Dove with two shots to the head. Platt himself had already been hit six times at this point.

Platt entered Grogan and Dove's car, apparently attempting escape. He was joined by Matix, who had regained consciousness and had crawled unseen to Platt's position.

The fight was finally ended by Special Agent Edmundo Mireles, who, despite being seriously injured during the gunfight (his left arm was totally disabled after being struck by bullets from Platt's rifle), overcame his injuries by using his uninjured arm to cycle his pump shotgun one-handed and fire repeated rounds at the vehicle's driver and passenger compartment, which prevented the suspects from leaving the scene. When his shotgun rounds were exhausted, Mireles managed to rise to his feet, draw his service revolver, and advance toward the vehicle, where he killed both Matix and Platt at near point-blank range.

Toxicology tests showed that the astounding abilities of Platt and Matix to fight through multiple traumatic gun shot wounds and continue to battle and attempt to escape were not achieved through any chemical means. Both of their bodies were completely drug- and alcohol-free at the time of their deaths.

[edit] Aftermath

The subsequent FBI investigation placed partial blame for the agents deaths on the lack of stopping power exhibited by their 9mm service pistols. They soon began the search to adopt a more powerful caliber and cartridge. Noting the difficulties of reloading a revolver while under fire, they specified that agents should be armed with semiautomatic handguns. The Smith & Wesson 1076, chambered for the powerful 10mm Auto round, was chosen as a direct result of the Miami shootout. The sharp recoil of the 10mm Auto later proved too much for most agents to control effectively, and a special reduced velocity loading of the 10mm Auto round was developed, commonly referred to as the "10mm Lite" or "10mm FBI". Soon thereafter, Smith and Wesson realized the large case of the 10mm Auto was not necessary to produce the reduced ballistics of the FBI load. Smith and Wesson developed a shorter cased cartridge based on the 10mm that would ultimately replace the 10mm as the primary FBI service cartridge, the .40 S&W. The .40 S&W became far more popular than its parent, the 10mm Auto, due to the ability to chamber the shorter cartridge in standard frame automatic pistols designed initially for the 9 mm Para. Other than a .142" reduction in overall case length, resulting in less gun powder capacity in the .40 S&W, the 10mm and .40 S&W are identical in projectile size, both using a .400" caliber bullet.

[edit] In popular media

  • The events leading up to and including the April 11 shootout were adapted into the NBC made-for-television movie, In The Line Of Duty: The FBI Murders in 1988, starring Michael Gross as William Matix and David Soul as Michael Platt. Ronny Cox acted as Ben Grogan, and Jerry Dove was played by Bruce Greenwood.
  • The event is one of several shootouts documented by firearms instructor Massad Ayoob in his 1995 book, "The Ayoob Files: The Book".

[edit] Memorial

In 2001, the Village of Pinecrest, Florida, which incorporated in 1996, honored the two agents by co-designating a portion of Southwest 82nd Avenue as Agent Benjamin Grogan Avenue and Agent Jerry Dove Avenue. Street signs and a historical marker commemorate the naming of the roadway in honor of the two agents.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Meltzer, Matt. True Crime: The FBI Miami Shootout. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
Languages