Shawn Sherwin LaBeet, the man suspected of murdering one Miami-Dade officer and wounding three others, was shot and killed last night in a shootout with police.
Heavily armed Miami-Dade police cornered and killed LaBeet in a Pembroke Pines condo complex shortly before midnight. LaBeet was wearing body armor, holding a loaded weapon, and carrying extra ammo, according to police.
The Miami Herald reported this morning that police learned of LaBeet’s location late last night, sent in a tactical team into the condo complex, which cornered and killed the man near a swimming pool.
LaBeet was suspected of shooting and killing Officer Jose Somohano and wounding Officers Christopher Carlin, Tomas Tundidor, and Jody Wright in a shootout yesterday morning.
According to official reports, the four officers were working a burglary detail in the Cutler Ridge district when they saw a car being driven erratically. Somohano and Carlin tried to approach the driver, identified by police as LaBeet. The car pulled away, and LaBeet parked and ran into his girlfriend’s house. The officers then called for backup.
Police say LaBeet then opened fire through a window with a large caliber rifle, believed to be an AK-47. Somohano was hit in the neck and killed. LaBeet then ran out of the house, spraying fire at the cops. The officers returned fire, shattering the car windshield but missing the suspect.
Backup officers pursued LaBeet, but they lost him when he ditched the car. The shooting triggered a massive multi-county manhunt that ended last night with the suspect’s death.
The wounded officers are recovering. Officer Jody Wright, 31, was hit in the leg, her knee shattered. Officers Carlin, 34, and Tundidor, 37, were also hit, but their wounds were not serious. At presstime Wright was still in the hospital. Doctors told her father that she may not walk again. Carlin and Tundidor were treated and released.
Somohano, 37, leaves behind a wife and two children.