Armed motorist shoots at cop, leads police on car chase from Miami-Dade to Martin County

A motorist involved in a traffic accident in Florida City fired “several shots” at an officer before fleeing northbound on the Florida Turnpike and leading police on a four-county car chase that ended in Martin County with the suspect sustaining an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said late Saturday that a county officer had attempted to approach the driver after noticing the crash near Southwest 336th Street and U.S. Highway 1, but that the armed suspect began to fire and then headed north on the Turnpike.

Several county police units trailed the driver into Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties. The driver came to a stop near Mile Marker 127. As officers approached the car, they found that the suspect had sustained an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Videos posted to social media show a swarm of police cars pursuing the driver at high speeds. Police have not released the name of the suspect or the status of their injuries.

Alejandro Santiago, a 16-year-old from Kendall who posted video of the chase on Twitter, was driving on the Turnpike near Jupiter with his dad when he noticed the “beat up” Chevy swerve in front of their truck to evade the trailing patrol vehicles. He said he noticed sheriff’s deputies and officers from Broward County, Miami-Dade County and Florida City following behind.

“I look and the car had flown past us,” Santiago said in an interview with the Miami Herald. “It cut in front of us, like right in front of the truck.”

“Thirty, maybe 40 cops” were speeding behind, he said.

This is a developing story that will be updated when more information is available