Arrest Made over Shooting of Two Undercover Cops

The undercover police vehicle after the ambush.

A teenager, 19, has been arrested over the ambush and shooting of two undercover cops in a Miami parking lot.

Terence White, 47, and Charles Wood, 37, both veterans of the Miami-Dade Police Department, were sat in an unmarked car outside a Miami apartment complex on Monday evening when they were shot by at least two men.

Damian Antwan Thompson, 19, has since been arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder and battery of a police officer.

Damian Antwan Thompson

Woods had identified Thompson as his shooter from a photographic lineup as someone he had arrested earlier this year on weapons charges.

‘They were ambushed and we’re not going to tolerate it,’ Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez told Local10.

Both White, a 26-year veteran of the Miami-Dade Police Department, and Woods, an 11-year veteran, were injured but survived the attack. Woods, who was shot in the leg, has since been released from the hospital.

At least one of the officers returned fire, John Rivera, president of the Miami-Dade police union, said.

Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez said fellow officers used a pickup truck to bring their wounded colleagues to Jackson Memorial Hospital.

In a press conference outside the hospital broadcast on Miami Dade’s Facebook page, Perez said on Monday: ‘Today we had a very scary incident. Obviously, we have two of our officers that work in the homicide task force, part of the gang unit, conducting an investigation near the Annie Coleman apartments. The end result of their operation was that they were apparently shot in an ambush-style attack.’

Perez said the shooting was unprovoked and it is not known whether the attackers knew the plainclothes officers were police.

He said: ‘These people, if they are willing to do that to our own officers, are causing havoc in our community, causing chaos in people’s live, putting people below the ground. That’s what these guys are, murders in our community. So let’s work together to find a resolution to what occurred tonight.’

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez continued: ‘As the director said, this was a brazen act of violence committed against two of our finest officers. They’re there trying to protect us and this community, and they were ambushed and we’re not gonna tolerate it.’