Mayor – NBC 6 South Florida

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez offered his resignation before he shot himself in an apparent attempted suicide over the weekend.

Levine Cava held a news conference Wednesday where she confirmed she spoke with him before he shot himself near Tampa Sunday night.

Levine Cava was also expected to discuss her appointment of Deputy Director Stephanie Daniels, who’s been with the Miami-Dade Police Department since 1992, as Interim Director.

Ramirez had been attending the Florida Sheriff’s Association’s annual summer conference in Tampa on Sunday when he had been involved in some sort of domestic dispute with his wife at a hotel, authorities said.

Ramirez left the hotel and was driving somewhere along I-75 in the Riverview neighborhood, toward the southern end of Hillsborough County, when he pulled over and shot himself, officials said.

South Florida Police Benevolent Association President Steadman Stahl told NBC6 Tuesday that he hadn’t spoken with Ramirez directly but met with Ramirez’s family and was told the police director was speaking. He said the family “is very emotional” but doesn’t believe Ramirez has severe brain damage at this point.

“It’s a very somber time for the family, but they’re standing by his bedside and we wish him the best,” Stahl said. “From the reports I have read, it looks like the bullet went through and out the eye, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be any brain damage.”

Well-known South Florida gun violence activist Tangela Sears was “broken” when she learned Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez’s apparent attempted suicide. NBC6’s Laura Rodriguez reports

Ramirez, 52, was rushed to a Tampa-area hospital and underwent surgery Monday and Tuesday. Miami-Dade Police said he was in stable condition.

“Director Ramirez continues to positively recover post-surgery. He continues to receive outstanding medical care in Tampa surrounded by his family, loved ones, and MDPD brothers and sisters,” the Miami-Dade Police Department said in a statement Tuesday. “Thank you to our community and law enforcement family for all your prayers, support, and strength.”

Sources told NBC6 that Ramirez’s wife was with him at the time of the shooting. No one else was injured in the incident.

According to Tampa Police, officers had responded to a report of a man with a gun outside the Marriott Waterside, where the conference was being held.

Officers arrived and were given third-hand information alleging a man had pointed a gun at himself, but there were no first-hand witnesses or security camera footage capturing the alleged incident, police said.

Police said officers found Ramirez in a 12th-floor room with a woman who Ramirez said he’d been involved in an argument with.

Ramirez said he had not displayed a firearm and had no intention to harm himself or others, police said. The woman corroborated that they had an argument and that she did not have any concerns about her safety being in danger, police said.

Since there was no evidence of a crime or immediate danger, Ramirez was released at the scene, police said.

NBC6’s Roxanne Vargas sits down with a clinical psychiatrist to discuss alarming statistics regarding mental health in law enforcement.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol have launched a joint investigation into the incident.

Ramirez had announced earlier this year he would run for sheriff in 2024 to try to keep his position as head of the police department.

He first joined Miami-Dade Police in 1995 and worked his way up through the ranks. He became police director in 2020 and then received a further promotion to Miami-Dade County chief of public safety.

The Miami-Dade Police Department is the largest in the southeastern U.S. and 8th largest in the country, with more than 3,000 sworn officers and over 1,000 civilian staff.