Miami police officers kill suspected armed robber
On the same day Miami police announced that the U.S. Department of Justice had ended five years of oversight stemming from an investigation into almost three dozen police shootings, two Miami police officers shot and killed a man.
Though no one is contending police acted improperly in the most recent shooting — the dead man is believed to have committed a string of armed robberies the past two weeks and police claim to have recovered a weapon at the shooting site — the timing didn’t go unnoticed.
“It’s bad luck obviously,” said Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. “But it happens. If an officer is confronted with deadly force, they have to use deadly force in response. It’s a sad reality.”
Only a few hours before the deadly encounter, the city announced that DOJ had ended nearly five years of oversight of Miami police. The city’s settlement with the feds, which came after agreements on new use-of-force investigations and training methods, was the result of a lengthy probe into 33 police shootings of mostly Black men dating back more than a decade.
Early Tuesday evening two Miami police officers opened fire on Juan Carlos Pena-Noda, 51, after finding him wandering through Paradise Mobile Home Trailer Park at 2750 NW S. River Drive, with a gun, police said. Detectives had been investigating PenaNoda, who they suspected committed a string of at least six armed robberies since Feb. 8, including two on Tuesday.
In some cases he threatened workers with a gun. Other times, police said, he used a flare gun. Police say they identified Pena-Noda through surveillance and that all the robberies were similar in nature. No one was injured during any of the heists.
Police and union representatives were quick to say the officers acted properly and were defending themselves. Police also believe Pena-Noda was getting more dangerous and confident with each robbery.
“It started with a flare gun, then upgraded to an actual handgun. There was a robbery every other day, then yesterday he did two more,” said Miami Deputy Police Chief Ron Papier. “We believe the the subject pulled out a handgun when officers encountered him.”
It wasn’t clear Wednesday if Pena-Noda lived in the trailer park. Asked about him and his encounter with police the night before, several residents said they didn’t see anything, didn’t know PenaNoda and couldn’t even say if he lived there. Resident Raudel Gutierrez said he doubted Pena-Noda lived there, then echoed a common complaint of several residents: Too often, outsiders come by to stir up trouble, giving the rundown trailer park a bad reputation.
“We don’t have thieves here,” Gutierrez said. “People who don’t live here come here and cause problems.”
State records show PenaNoda’s criminal history dates back 33 years. He’s been arrested at least 18 times since he became an adult. Most of the arrests were for burglary of unoccupied dwellings and many of those cases were dropped. But Pena-Noda was also charged several times with grand theft auto, and for possession of cocaine and domestic violence battery.
After several convictions, state records show, he spent two stints in prison serving almost four years. More recently he was charged by Hialeah police in January with a health safety violation after being suspected of breaking into an unoccupied dwelling.
Miami police believe Pena-Noda used a weapon when ripping off three cellphone stores in the Flagami area between Feb. 8 and Feb. 12. They also suspect him of robbing a coin laundry and another store in the same neighborhood on Wednesday, the day he was shot and killed. Miami police spokesman Kenia Fallat said both officers who fired their weapons struck Pena-Noda.
Pena-Noda was the fourth person shot by a Miami police in the past year, according to police. Two of the shootings were fatal.
The shooting in Miami also happened less than a week after a federal agent, in an unrelated case, shot and killed a suspect in Coral Gables. On Friday, an agent with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations fatally struck Brandon Wimberly, 36, who officials said “brandished” a gun during an investigation into “financial” crimes. Agents had been trying to pull over Wimberly, who was in a van driving through Coral Gables. Another man was also wounded in the shooting.
And like the Miami police shooting, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the shooting death.
the Republican Party lost the presidency and the power to pick U.S. attorneys, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio still can wield considerable influence over the selection of the next top federal prosecutor in South Florida.
In a key move, sources close to Rubio say, the GOP senator has privately signaled support for a HaitianAmerican lawyer considered the Biden administration’s front-runner — Markenzy Lapointe, a Black Miami lawyer and Marine veteran who once worked in the
U.S. Attorney’s Office.
But Lapointe isn’t the only candidate to emerge. There are at least four others interested in the job — all also qualified and with a history of practicing law in both the public and private sectors. Among them are former South Florida federal prosecutors Jacqueline Arango, Andres Rivero and David Buckner, along with
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg.
Of those four, Aronberg also boasts notable political connections in the Democratic Party and could have power brokers in South Florida pushing him for the important post.
“They are all good choices,” said J.C. Planas, a Miami attorney who specializes in election law and served as a Republican state representative before he was term-limited. He eventually switched to the Democratic Party in opposition to Trump’s bid for re-election.
Contacted by the Miami Herald, Rubio’s office declined to comment on potential nominations for U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida, which will soon become vacant when Ariana Fajardo Orshan leaves office at the end of the month as part of a normal transition between presidents. Fajardo, a former Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge and state prosecutor, was nominated by President Donald Trump in 2018 after Rubio recomAlthough mended her for the position.
When Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump in November, Rubio lost the power to communicate directly with the president on recommendations for U.S. attorneys and federal judges in Florida. But as the senior Republican senator in Florida, Rubio still has input in the process, even if Biden has the sole power to make the nominations followed by Senate confirmation.
For a Republican, Rubio’s support of Lapointe would be a safe political bet, at least in South Florida with its substantial HaitianAmerican community.
Lapointe has already been interviewed by the Biden administration for the U.S. attorney’s job, which oversees more than 400 federal prosecutors from Key West to Fort Pierce in one of the busiest districts in the nation. Lapointe is also the only one of the five candidates who have expressed interest in the position to be interviewed by the White House counsel, according to sources familiar with the process.
If nominated, Lapointe, who is considered the front-runner, would make history as the first Black
U.S. attorney in South Florida.
Planas said he sees Lapointe’s candidacy as a “no-brainer” with his background as a federal prosecutor, partnership in a Miami law firm and background as an ex-Marine who was born in Haiti and raised in Miami. “He has a great personal story,” he said.
Planas said he was encouraged to hear Rubio is supporting Lapointe for the high-profile position, in stark contrast to his opposition to Cuban-American Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was eventually confirmed by the Senate. In the past, Rubio has been successful in blocking previous federal judicial nominees in South Florida, such as William Thomas, a Black circuit court judge, and Mary Barzee, a former circuit court judge and assistant federal public defender.
Rubio’s Republican colleague, Florida Sen. Rick Scott, also opposed Mayorkas for Biden’s
cabinet.
Asked whether Scott is supporting Lapointe or any other candidate for U.S. attorney in South Florida, his office provided a partial response — but then turned its focus on encouraging federal prosecutors to keep up their pressure on the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro. “Our office has spoken with Mr. Lapointe about his interest in the appointment to serve as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida,” Scott’s office said in a statement. “This is a very important position, particularly because the office has taken a lead role in pursuing legal action against the murderous Maduro regime in Venezuela.”
Since 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Florida has targeted more than a dozen Venezuelan businessmen and officials in the governments of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, on charges of embezzling billions of dollars from the oil-rich country and hiding some of their assets in the U.S. banking system and real estate market.
Planas, a veteran political observer, said that no one should underestimate Aronberg’s prospects of being nominated by Biden because of his strong Democratic Party credentials, history of public service and management experience as the state attorney in Palm Beach County over the past decade. Aronberg is also a former Florida senator.
Planas pointed out that Aronberg, though born and raised in Miami, is not a product of its politics. As an outsider, he would be “objective” in local corruption cases, Planas said.
In an interview, Aronberg said that “protecting the safety of the community” has always been his passion and that he is interested in the U.S. attorney’s job to continue that pursuit. His name was on a short list of candidates for U.S. attorney in South Florida four years ago, but he withdrew his candidacy because he was in the wrong political party with Trump as president.
Now that Biden is in the White House, Aronberg’s chances are decidedly better.
There has been speculation that U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Ted Deutch — both longtime Democrats in Broward County — are pushing for Aronberg’s nomination behind the scenes. Wasserman Schultz’s office downplayed that potential support and instead focused on her efforts to restore the process of using a bipartisan judicial nominating commission in Florida to recommend finalists for U.S. attorneys, federal judges and U.S. marshals. That process was abandoned by Sens. Rubio and Scott after Scott, Florida’s former GOP governor, narrowly beat Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in 2018.
Wasserman Schultz said she has been working with veteran colleague, U.S. Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, and the rest of the Florida congressional delegation to set up regional judicial nominating commissions in the southern, middle and northern districts of the state. She said her goal is reestablish the commissions to “produce a strong slate of candidates.”
“This has been the longstanding, bipartisan mechanism for recommending candidates to the White House,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.
Despite her efforts, it remains to be seen whether Rubio and Scott would want to join Democrats in the Florida House delegation in recreating that system.
Malaysian gaming and hospitality giant Genting has resubmitted plans to build three high-rises reaching more than 60 stories at One Herald Plaza.
According to filings with the Federal Aviation Administration, Genting’s Resorts World Miami brand towers stretch to 649 feet at the site of the old Miami Herald building. The filings were first reported by TheNextMiami.
The FAA originally approved the height in 2013. That approval expired in 2017, when Genting reapplied. The subsequent approval expired in 2020. Asked if Genting has plans to start construction this year, a representative said the company did not have any new plans to submit.
Under current zoning, structures up to 36 stories tall are allowed. However, the height restrictions can be altered by the Planning and Zoning Board.
The site has stood empty since 2015, when Genting demolished the former Herald headquarters. Meanwhile, the city has developed in all surrounding directions — north to Edgewater, south along Biscayne Boulevard, west to the Arts & Entertainment District — as well as vertically, with downtown’s tallest building now measuring almost 850 feet.
Genting’s multi-year bid to expand Florida’s gambling laws to allow for a destination gaming resort in Miami has stalled. But today, a project on the site would make sense without a gaming component, according to Alicia Cervera Lamadrid, managing partner and principal at Cervera Real Estate.
“They’ve had that site under control for a long time,” said Cervera, who is also a member of the Miami Downtown Development Authority. “It’s one of the most beautiful sites in the world in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
“Before, the catalyst for the project was that they were going to introduce a market by bringing gambling,” she said. “Now there’s no need to create a market because the market here is alive and kicking. Gaming is not a requirement at all to sell real estate in Miami now.”
Prior to the pandemic, appetite for Miami luxury condos had slowed. But the emergence of COVID-19 and a change in tax laws has brought a new wave of ultra high net worth CEOs to South Florida in recent months, and several new luxury projects appear to be moving forward.
Miami is a far different — and wealthier — city than it was in 2011, when Miami was struggling to shake off the Great Recession. Genting grabbed headlines when it paid $236 million for the 5.36 acre waterfront property that was then occupied by the Miami Herald. The company subsequently purchased the failed Omni mall nearby and the historic Boulevard Shops fronting Biscayne Bay; in total it paid almost $500 million for the nearly 14 acres it now owns in the area.
The purchase initially was applauded by the business and civic communities as a move toward rejuvenation of a then-gritty area. But the company’s plans for a 300,000-square-foot casino inside a massive resort — six curved towers designed to resemble a coral reef, with 50 restaurants and 5,200 hotel rooms — drew heated controversy.
Subsequent plans for Resorts World Miami were dramatically scaled back, including a five-star luxury hotel, luxury condominiums, waterfront restaurants, some limited retail and an 800foot long promenade along Biscayne Bay that covered only a portion of the site. At the time, studies showed Miami suffered from a shortage of luxury condos.
In 2013, the Miami Herald moved its office to Doral. Genting demolished the Herald’s distinctive MidCentury Modern building in 2015. The prime bayfront location has lacked a permanent structure since.
In October 2016, Genting signaled plans — never realized — to build a mega-yacht harbor at the mouth of the property. In January 2018, it signed a multi-year deal to use the property to hold events; prior to the COVID pandemic, those included
Art Miami, Art Wynwood and the Miami Yacht Show.
Genting is also lead partner on a proposal to build a monorail connecting Miami to Miami Beach. The plan’s most recent price tag came in at $770 million.
In August, Genting suspended payments to its creditors amid sustained losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. In its most recent financial statement, covering the three months ended
Sept. 30, 2020, Genting reported a net loss of $180 million, as revenues fell more than 50% year-onyear.
Since first purchasing the One Herald Plaza site, Genting has repeatedly lobbied Tallahassee for an expansion of Florida’s gambling laws to allow a destination gambling resort. But for the last two years, that discussion has remained stalled.
Last year, House and Senate leaders tried to reach a deal with the governor that would update Florida’s gambling laws by allowing organized sports betting and bring in new revenue from the Seminole Tribe but the legislative session ended with little progress.
Voters in 2018 approved a constitutional amendment that now requires a statewide vote on any legislation that expands gambling in Florida, excluding a compact with a Native American tribe. Also since 2018, when then-Gov. Rick Scott refused to crack down on the games at horse, dog and jai-alai venues around the state, a court ordered that the state violated its agreement with the Seminole Tribe and so the tribe no longer had to pay $350 million in annual revenue-sharing payments to the state.
Millions of Americans endured another frigid day without electricity or heat in the aftermath of a deadly winter storm as utility crews raced to restore power before another blast of snow and ice sowed more chaos in places least equipped to deal with it.
Nearly 3.4 million customers around the U.S. were still without electricity, and some also lost water service. Texas officials ordered 7 million people – a quarter of the population of the nation’s second-largest state – to boil tap water before drinking it following days of record low temperatures that damaged infrastructure and froze pipes.
The latest storm front was certain to complicate recovery efforts, especially in states that are unaccustomed to such weather – parts of Texas, Arkansas and the Lower Mississippi Valley.
“There’s really no letup to some of the misery people are feeling across that area,” said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service, referring to Texas.
The system was forecast to move into the Northeast on Thursday. More than 100 million people live in areas covered by some type of winter weather warning, watch or advisory, the weather service said.
This week’s extreme weather has been blamed for the deaths of more than 30 people, some of whom perished while struggling to keep warm inside their homes. In the Houston area, one family succumbed to carbon monoxide from car exhaust in their garage. Another family died while using a fireplace to keep warm.
Weather-related outages have been particularly stubborn in Oregon, where some customers have been without power for almost a week.
The worst U.S. outages by far have been in Texas, where 3 million homes and businesses remained without power as of midday Wednesday. More than 200,000 additional customers were in the dark in four Appalachian states, and nearly that many in the Pacific Northwest, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility outage reports.
The president of the Texas power grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said he hoped many customers would see at least partial service restored by later Wednesday or Thursday.
Dashawn Walker, 33, was thrilled to find the power back on in his Dallas apartment. He stayed at a suburban hotel Tuesday night after being without power since Sunday, but said he was charged $474 for one night.
“It’s crazy,” Walker said. “I mean why would y'all go up on the hotels in the middle of a crisis?“
Water pressure has fallen across the state because lines have frozen, and many residents are leaving faucets dripping in hopes of preventing pipes from freezing, said Toby Baker, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott urged residents to shut off water to their homes, if possible, to prevent more busted pipes and preserve pressure in municipal systems.
The outages in and around Portland, Oregon, affected nearly 150,000 customers nearly a week after a massive snow and ice storm toppled many trees and took out hundreds of miles of power lines.
The damage to the power system was the worst in 40 years, said Maria Pope, CEO of Portland General Electric. At the peak of the storm, more than 350,000 customers in the Portland area were in the dark.
“These are the most dangerous conditions we’ve ever seen in the history of PGE,” said Dale Goodman, director of utility operations, who declined to predict when all customers would have power restored.
Utilities from Minnesota to Texas implemented rolling blackouts to ease the burden on strained power grids. The Southwest Power Pool, a group of utilities covering 14 states, said the blackouts were “a last resort to preserve the reliability of the electric system as a whole.”
The weather also disrupted water systems in several Southern cities, including in New Orleans and Shreveport, Louisiana, where city fire trucks delivered water to several hospitals, and bottled water was being brought in for patients and staff, Shreveport television station KSLA reported.
Power was cut to a New Orleans facility that pumps drinking water from the Mississippi River. A spokeswoman for the Sewerage and Water Board said onsite generators were used until electricity was restored.
In the southwest Louisiana city of Lake Charles, Mayor Nic Hunter said Wednesday that water reserves remained low and local hospitals were faced with the possibility they might have to transfer patients to other areas.
Travel remains ill-advised in much of the United
States, with roadways treacherous and thousands of flights canceled. Many school systems delayed or canceled face-to-face classes. But staying home carried risks too in places without power.
Authorities said a fire that killed three young children and their grandmother in the Houston area likely was caused by the fireplace they were using to keep warm. In Oregon, authorities confirmed Tuesday that four people died in the Portland area of carbon monoxide poisoning.