2 cops, suspect killed in Miami shootout

MIAMI  — A shootout erupted in Miami as a task force of law enforcement officers served a homicide warrant Thursday, killing two police officers and the suspect, authorities said.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said the first officer had been shot once and died at the scene. The second officer, who was shot several times, was taken to a hospital and later died, Alvarez said. The officers and suspect were not immediately identified.

Alvarez said a squad of Miami-Dade police officers — who are part of the career criminal unit of the warrants division — was serving a homicide warrant from the city of Miami when there was a confrontation.

"This unit is very well-trained, very well-armed, and highly protects itself," said Alvarez, a former police officer. "So they know what they're doing. It was just a tragic incident that we see here too often in Miami-Dade, of a violent suspect who could care less."

Barry Golden, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service in South Florida, said the two officers who were shot were working with a Marshals fugitive task force. The task force works to arrest people wanted for crimes from all over the country. He didn't immediately have details on what the task force had been working on Thursday.

Meanwhile, two schools had been placed on lockdown as residents waited outside their homes in Miami's Liberty City neighborhood. Streets were blocked off with police tape as U.S. marshals walked the streets in riot gear.