Family members were STUNNED at the news!
Miami-Dade police shoot, kill 4 armed men
10:17 p.m. EDT, July 1, 2011
Seven months after he was released from prison, Rosendo Betancourt helped Miami-Dade police infiltrate a gang of suspected home-invasion robbers with a penchant for torture and mutilation.
The plan was to convince the gang there was a stash of marijuana inside a rural Redlands home that turned out to be owned by Miami-Dade County and set up for such a ruse.
This was a tightly controlled, well-planned, late-night operation Thursday, with the police planning to nab the bad guys at the last moment.
Miami-Dade County
Assault Around 9 p.m., the plan turned violent, leading to a flurry of gunfire and four bodies in the front yard of a home in the 18000 block of Southwest 216th Street, all dead of gunshot wounds from heavily armed Miami-Dade Special Response Team officers.
Betancourt, 39, who investigators described as a "cooperating defendant," was among the dead, all of whom were armed.
On Friday, investigators were trying to piece together what went wrong at the 3-acre property. They were at a loss trying to figure out how Betancourt ended up alongside Roger Gonzalez-Valdez, 52; Jorge Lemus, 39; and Antonio Andrew, 36.
His police handlers had given him strict instructions about what to do at the scene.
"He was told not to participate in this action at all, not to relinquish control of the vehicle and not to leave the vehicle," Miami-Dade Police Director James Loftus said Friday at a press conference.
But, Betancourt came armed with a .38-caliber pistol, wearing gloves, a mask and a jacket over the clothing that he had been wearing when police picked him up earlier in the day.
"For reasons that are unknown to me, and unknown to us at this time, he participated in the robbery proper,'' Loftus said. The confrontation happened when the men refused commands to put down their weapons, Loftus said.
Betancourt's family members were stunned at the news.
"The police picked him up and he winds up dead with those delinquents?" said his distraught mother-in-law, Gricell Perez, 60.
Five people arrived at the house in south Miami-Dade. The property was being videotaped and a police helicopter was close enough to capture nighttime surveillance footage. The driver was Roger Gonzalez Jr., 32, the son of Gonzalez-Valdez. He was not injured and was taken into custody.
Relatives said Betancourt dropped off his three children with his mother-in-law early Thursday, left his car with his wife in Kendall and hitched a ride with a detective.
Detectives had been tracking this crew since January. They believe the men were responsible for at least 15 violent home invasion robberies since last fall, some targeting drug dealers and involving the torture and genital mutilation of some victims.
The leader apparently was Gonzalez-Valdez, who had an extensive criminal past. He was released from state prison in August after serving 14 years for racketeering, armed robbery, kidnapping and drug trafficking convictions out of Miami-Dade, Columbia and Collier counties. He was supposed to be on probation for 10 years, records show.
Betancourt also was released in August after serving a three-year sentence for cocaine trafficking. Police believe he owed a drug debt to the crew. Andrew's criminal record includes convictions for burglary, carrying a concealed weapon and grand theft.
No officers were injured and the officers who opened fire were placed on administrative duty pending an investigation — routine in police shootings.
Miami-Dade police shoot, kill 4 armed men
10:17 p.m. EDT, July 1, 2011
Seven months after he was released from prison, Rosendo Betancourt helped Miami-Dade police infiltrate a gang of suspected home-invasion robbers with a penchant for torture and mutilation.
The plan was to convince the gang there was a stash of marijuana inside a rural Redlands home that turned out to be owned by Miami-Dade County and set up for such a ruse.
This was a tightly controlled, well-planned, late-night operation Thursday, with the police planning to nab the bad guys at the last moment.
Miami-Dade County
Assault Around 9 p.m., the plan turned violent, leading to a flurry of gunfire and four bodies in the front yard of a home in the 18000 block of Southwest 216th Street, all dead of gunshot wounds from heavily armed Miami-Dade Special Response Team officers.
Betancourt, 39, who investigators described as a "cooperating defendant," was among the dead, all of whom were armed.
On Friday, investigators were trying to piece together what went wrong at the 3-acre property. They were at a loss trying to figure out how Betancourt ended up alongside Roger Gonzalez-Valdez, 52; Jorge Lemus, 39; and Antonio Andrew, 36.
His police handlers had given him strict instructions about what to do at the scene.
"He was told not to participate in this action at all, not to relinquish control of the vehicle and not to leave the vehicle," Miami-Dade Police Director James Loftus said Friday at a press conference.
But, Betancourt came armed with a .38-caliber pistol, wearing gloves, a mask and a jacket over the clothing that he had been wearing when police picked him up earlier in the day.
"For reasons that are unknown to me, and unknown to us at this time, he participated in the robbery proper,'' Loftus said. The confrontation happened when the men refused commands to put down their weapons, Loftus said.
Betancourt's family members were stunned at the news.
"The police picked him up and he winds up dead with those delinquents?" said his distraught mother-in-law, Gricell Perez, 60.
Five people arrived at the house in south Miami-Dade. The property was being videotaped and a police helicopter was close enough to capture nighttime surveillance footage. The driver was Roger Gonzalez Jr., 32, the son of Gonzalez-Valdez. He was not injured and was taken into custody.
Relatives said Betancourt dropped off his three children with his mother-in-law early Thursday, left his car with his wife in Kendall and hitched a ride with a detective.
Detectives had been tracking this crew since January. They believe the men were responsible for at least 15 violent home invasion robberies since last fall, some targeting drug dealers and involving the torture and genital mutilation of some victims.
The leader apparently was Gonzalez-Valdez, who had an extensive criminal past. He was released from state prison in August after serving 14 years for racketeering, armed robbery, kidnapping and drug trafficking convictions out of Miami-Dade, Columbia and Collier counties. He was supposed to be on probation for 10 years, records show.
Betancourt also was released in August after serving a three-year sentence for cocaine trafficking. Police believe he owed a drug debt to the crew. Andrew's criminal record includes convictions for burglary, carrying a concealed weapon and grand theft.
No officers were injured and the officers who opened fire were placed on administrative duty pending an investigation — routine in police shootings.
