Sources: Suspect who shot Miami-Dade police officer is school board member’s son

Police say officer was ambushed from behind while trying to arrest another individual.

MIAMI – A Miami-Dade police officer was injured in a shooting in Miami’s Buena Vista neighborhood Wednesday afternoon, and multiple law enforcement sources identified the suspected gunman to Local 10 News Thursday as Steve Gallon IV, the son of Miami-Dade School Board member Steve Gallon III.

The shooting happened at around 4 p.m. in the area of Northwest 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue.

The officer, whose name hasn’t been released, was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, sources said.

Authorities said the officer, a narcotics detective and 18-year veteran of the department, was attempting to arrest an individual when he was ambushed from behind and grazed by a bullet in the back of his head.

He has since been released from the hospital and is at home recovering, police said.

The subject who was initially being arrested was taken into custody and a perimeter was set up by responding Miami-Dade police officers to find the other person.

Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez confirmed Thursday morning that the suspect they believe pulled the trigger has also been arrested.

Local 10′s cameras captured the location where that suspect was located Thursday morning in the area of Northwest 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue.

Officers from multiple agencies gathered outside the hospital Wednesday evening before the injured officer was released.

Four officers with the Miami-Dade Police Department have been shot since last summer, including one who was killed — Detective Cesar “Echy” Echaverry.

“I am tired of being here at the hospital, four times already for officers being injured and shot,” Ramirez said. “This has to stop.”

The Miami-Dade school board and an attorney for Steve Gallon III declined to comment on the matter.