Ernesto Padron, a 52-year-old bank robbery suspect, was shot dead by police after a two-hour car chase Friday morning through Miami-Dade County
A 52-year-old bank robbery suspect was shot dead by police after leading cops on a two-hour car chase and then jumping in a river.
The dramatic chase started just after 7am, when officers tried to serve a warrant at a home in northwest Miami-Dade County, where a suspected bank robber was believed to be staying.
The suspected robber, identified as Ernesto Padron, fled the home and then stole a Brown BMW SUV from a man at a nearby gas station.
He took off in the car towards the city of Miami, as news helicopters followed from above.
At one point, he nearly struck an officer’s car when he drove into a dead end.
He managed to get out of the dead end and then ditched the car near Northwest 21st Street and 14th Ave.
The suspect stole a Brown BMW SUV when officers tried to serve a search warrant at his house
He later ditched the SUV before carjacking another woman’s SUV in Miami
The second carjacking victims said she thought Padron was an undercover police officer
The second carjacking victim is seen exiting her car as Padron gets in the driver’s seat
He then drove the SUV under a bridge and abandoned the second vehicle
It was there that he threatened a woman on her way into work, taking out his gun and ordering her to get out of the car.
The woman obliged and Padron took off again, this time driving under a bridge where workers saw him jump into the Miami River.
News footage shows him diving down multiple times in an apparent attempt to hide from cops.
When he was surrounded, officers ordered Padron out of the water, tossing him a life belt.
But he refused and continued to hang onto a wall on the side of the river for about 40 minutes.
Eventually, officers shot at Padron, and then pulled him out of the water. They performed first aid, but Padron was pronounced dead at the scene.
In a Friday press conference, Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez said they were forced to shoot Padron after he made threatening comments towards officers, saying he ‘will not go down easy’.
Workers told police (responding to the bridge) that they saw the suspect jump into the Miami River
The suspect refused to get out of the water for 40 minutes. he’s seen above clinging to a wall
Officers surrounded Padron and eventually shot at him, when he refused to get out
Padron’s body is seen on top of a police boat after the shooting
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement are now investigating the shooting.
Padron was allegedly wanted in the September 29 robbery of a Wells Fargo.
The woman who had her car stolen at the end of the chase has since spoken out.
She has been identified as Minerva Castellano, a worker at Veterans Administration Hospital.
‘(He) just came to my window and put the gun in my face and told me, “Get the F*** out of the car right now, or I will shoot you,”‘ she told WPLG.
Above, the first SUV that Padron carjacked during the two-hour chase
It’s believed that Padron was the man behind a recent robbery at a Wells Fargo bank
At first, she thought that Padron was a police officer who needed to commandeer her vehicle.
‘I wasn’t really scared at the moment, because I’m thinking it’s an undercover cop, because I’d seen cops all over the place,’ she said. ‘I thought he was an undercover cop that needed my car, and it took me a while to get out. I’m strapped with my seatbelt. Luckily I had my purse with me, and I ran out — no shoes — I just got out.’
It wasn’t until an actual officer came up to her and tried to ask her for a description of the suspect that she realized she had been the victim of a carjacking.
‘I broke down at that point. I’m still a little shaken up,’ she said.
Castellano was not injured in the incident, nor were any police officers.