MIAMI — Police officers arrested a 77-year-old man after a shooting involving an off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer early Tuesday morning in Miami’s historic Bayside neighborhood.
Police officers responded to a report of a shooting shortly after 5:45 a.m. in the area of Northeast Seventh Avenue and 71 Street.
Police officers arrested Ruel Maxwell after reports from several witnesses and the shootout involving the off-duty CBP officer, records show.
A woman was walking her dogs at about 5:20 a.m. when she saw Maxwell trying to break into her neighbor’s white Volvo sports utility vehicle, and she heard someone confronting him, so she ran back home to tell her husband, according to the arrest report.
A man had called police to report that he struggled with Maxwell after he caught him attempting to open the front door of his home, according to a Miami police officer’s arrest report.
Meanwhile, the woman’s husband walked out of their home armed, saw Maxwell “manipulating” the passenger-side door of their neighbor’s Volvo, and confronted him, according to the police arrest report.
“Hey, are you OK? Are you from here? What’s going on,” the man told Maxwell, according to the arrest report.
Maxwell allegedly walked to the driver’s side door and “attempted to manipulate it” before saying, “You should get out of here. You should go away,” according to the police arrest report.
Maxwell allegedly “brandished a revolver, pointed it at the vehicle, and fired one shot” before also firing in the direction of the woman’s husband, who “demanded” that Maxwell “put the gun down,” according to the police report.
Duke said there was a shootout between the suspect and the woman’s husband, who works in law enforcement.
“The guy shot at him,” Duke said. “He shot back, and the uniformed police showed up right away, like within a couple of minutes.”
Maxwell, who was born in Jamaica, lives in Miami. Inmate records show corrections booked him shortly before 2:05 p.m. at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Local 10 News Senior Assignment Editor Frine Gomez and Assignment Editors Mercedes Cevallos and Carson Merlo contributed to this report.
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