Haunting moment cops storm Miami police chief’s hotel room after he ‘put his gun in his mouth’ and threatened to ‘end it now’

• Footage shows Tampa cops place the Miami-Dade police director in handcuffs
• They were responding to a report that he had pointed his gun at his own head
• Around three hours after releasing him, Freddy Ramirez shot himself in the head

Newly released bodycam footage shows police officers in Tampa handcuffing and releasing the Miami-Dade police director after he ‘put his gun in his mouth’ and threatened to ‘end it now’ – hours before he shot himself in the head. 

Around a dozen Tampa Police Department officers were called to a hotel on July 23 at around 6.30pm following reports that a man – now known to be Miami-Dade police director Alfredo ‘Freddy’ Ramirez – was arguing with his wife and had pointed a gun at his head.

After putting Ramirez in cuffs and speaking with the couple, police released him from custody and left his hotel. Ramirez then called the Miami-Dade mayor and said he wanted to resign as he had ‘made mistakes’.

As Ramirez and his wife, Jody, were driving home to Miami at around 8.30pm, he pulled over his car on the I-75 and shot himself in the head, according to police reports.

He was immediately taken to Tampa Hospital and underwent surgery. He was said to be in a stable condition and expected to recover without brain damage but has likely lost the use of his right eye.

Reports and footage released by Tampa police on Wednesday detail how officers responded to the alleged incident, in which Ramirez allegedly pointed the gun at his head outside the hotel he was staying at while attending a Florida Sheriff’s Conference with his wife.

In the new footage Ramirez can be heard asking the Tampa cops responding to the scene, ‘What are you doing?’ and ‘You know I’m the director of the Miami-Dade police department?’ 

Ramirez is a 27-year Miami-Dade police veteran and leads the largest law enforcement agency in the southeastern US.

In May, he announced his intention to seek election next year to the newly created role of sheriff. It’s unclear if he will remain in the race. In the meantime, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has appointed an interim police director.

The incident began on July 23 outside a JW Marriott hotel, where Ramirez had been attending the Florida Sheriff’s Association’s annual summer conference with his wife.

The pair got reportedly got into a loud dispute outside the hotel before heading up to their room on the 12th floor.

In the new footage, a hotel employee can be heard telling officers: ‘What a witness saw was they were arguing, they came out here, he said “I’m going to end it all,” and put a gun in his mouth.’

Police were then directed to the couple’s room. Due to the report of a gun, more than a dozen were in attendance and at least one was equipped with a bulletproof shield.

After knocking on the hotel room door at around 6.45pm, Ramirez’s wife Jody opened the door and appeared in the hallway with her arms raised. She told them her husband was in the room and the police ushered him out.

When Ramirez exited the room and raised his arms as instructed, two officers appeared to quickly place him in handcuffs. He then asked them what they are doing and told them of his senior position in the Miami-Dade Police Department.

‘Who called the cops?’ he asked them. ‘I didn’t do anything, I don’t understand.’

When police asked him what happened outside the hotel, he told them, ‘We were just talking, that’s it. I didn’t touch her, you can ask her, I didn’t do anything.’ 

Ramirez was asked about the gun, and he told them he had a ‘police gun’ with him. He also denied pointing the gun anywhere.

‘I’m here for the sheriff’s conference,’ he said. At around 7pm Ramirez was taken out of cuffs.

In the 15 minutes Ramirez was handcuffed, his wife Jody was interviewed by separate police officers down the hallway. She told them that her husband ‘Freddy’ is the director of the Miami Dade Police Department.

‘We were just having a heated conversation,’ she told them. ‘We’re fine.’ 

When asked if Ramirez took his gun out from his holster, she told police,’ I don’t recall him taking it out’.

She then told officers she had no concerns for her safety. ‘If I felt unsafe I would tell all of you right this minute,’ she said. ‘He has plenty of demons from the job as I’m sure you guys are all probably aware of.’

The couple are then left alone, and according to police reports, at about 8.30pm Ramirez called his boss, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, and offered his resignation.

‘Freddy told me he had made a mistake, he was prepared to resign,’ the mayor recounted during a July 26 press conference.

She said Ramirez was ‘very remorseful’ during their conversation, and that she told him to get home safely and they would discuss it the next day. Sometime after that, he shot himself, according to police records.

As Ramirez and his wife were driving home to Miami from Tampa, somewhere along I-75 in the Riverview neighborhood, toward the southern end of Hillsborough County, and south of Tampa, he pulled over and shot himself in the head. 

Jody Ramirez called 911. ‘Oh my God, help me, help me, help me, help me!’ she told dispatch, and said that her husband had walked into the road and that she was trying to help him.

She said she tried to treat his head wound on a grassy part of the road but that he would not let her. 

The police chief was rushed to a Tampa hospital, where he underwent surgery. 

Last week, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Ramirez was in stable condition at the hospital. Miami-Dade police said on Thursday that he remains in the Tampa area ‘and is making progress.’