MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The FBI is marking the 30th anniversary of a bloody South Florida shootout that left two agents dead and led to changes in the weapons, body armor and tactics.
FBI Director James Comey said at a ceremony Monday that the April 11, 1986 gun battle with bank robbers in a Miami suburb showed law enforcement needed to update equipment and training to face criminals who were increasingly using military-grade weapons.
Those who attended Monday's ceremony walked down Southwest 82nd Avenue to 122nd Street to the area where the two agents died. A wreath was placed at the historic marker in Pinecrest to honor and remember their bravery.
Agents Jerry L. Dove and Benjamin P. Grogan were killed in the firefight that lasted about five minutes, and five other agents were wounded in the bloodiest single day in FBI history.
"Ben Grogan died at my feet," retired FBI Special Agent John Hanlon said. "I was one of the last men to talk to him after I got shot about the third or fourth time. I was laying on the ground bleeding to death. I said to Ben, 'Ben, I've been hit,' and he said, 'Where is everybody?' And then I heard him die. Jerry Dove died right next to me."
Robbery suspects William Russell Matix and Michael Lee Platt also died.
Comey also dedicated a memorial paid for by private donations to Dove and Grogan at the FBI's South Florida headquarters in Miramar.