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ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Miami-Dade Police detective talks to an officer at the police line near the scene where a police-involved shooting took place in which four subjects were fatally wounded in Miami on Friday, July, 1, 2011. Authorities in Miami-Dade County say police shot and killed four suspects during a confrontation after they got out of their vehicles wearing ski masks and carrying guns. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
MIAMI >> Police shot and killed four masked and armed men in a sting operation, including one man who was cooperating with Miami-Dade police in an investigation of a series of violent home robberies, authorities said.
The shooting happened Thursday evening at a residence owned by the Miami-Dade Police Department in a southwest section of the county, in an area of homes and plant nurseries. Investigators say the men believed there was a stash of marijuana inside but were instead confronted by officers, who told them to put down their weapons.
The men did not comply and a confrontation ensued in which all four men were shot, police spokesman Det. Javier Baez said Friday. No officers were injured.
"An incident occurred that our special response team had to fire on these individuals," Baez said. He was not able to confirm whether the men had fired at police.
Those killed were identified as: Rosendo Betancourt Garcia, 39, the cooperating defendant; Jorge Luis Lemus, 39; and Roger Gonzalez Valez, 52. The fourth victim has not been identified. A fifth person, Roger Gonzalez, Jr., 32, was outside the property in a car and taken into custody.
The shooting capped the end of what police described as a lengthy investigation into a group of individuals who targeted marijuana grow houses. Baez said the suspects at times misidentified the residences and proceeded with targeting, and torturing, innocent individuals.
"These are career criminals," Baez said.
Betancourt has a criminal record that includes convictions for selling and trafficking cocaine. He was the one who alerted police to the suspects, Baez said. He was instructed by police and told not to go with the men to the operation. It’s unclear why he decided to join them.
Gricell Perez said Betancourt was her son-in-law. She said he came to drop off his three kids yesterday, telling her, "Please watch the kids, I’m going to help the police on a case."
She said he had been working the last seven months as a construction worker.
Residents in the neighborhood described hearing a swarm of helicopters overnight, and noted seeing an increase in crime over the last year.
Aleida Rojas said shots had been fired through her window.
"I live quite fearfully," she said.
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Associated Press writer Christine Armario in Miami contributed to this story.
