1986 FBI Miami shootout


On April 11, 1986, a shootout occurred between field agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and two armed men in what is now Pinecrest, Miami-Dade County, Florida. The two men, former U.S. Army servicemen Michael Lee Platt and William Russell Matix, were suspected of committing a series of violent crimes, mostly bank robberies, in and around the Miami metropolitan area.
Although they had partially surrounded the suspects after maneuvering them off a local road, the agents involved quickly found their firepower was outmatched by the weapons which Platt and Matix had in their vehicle. During the ensuing shootout, Platt in particular was able to repeatedly return fire despite sustaining multiple hits. Two special agents—Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove—were shot and killed, while five other agents were injured by gunfire. The shootout ended when both Platt and Matix were killed while attempting to flee the scene.
The incident is infamous as one of the most violent episodes in the history of the FBI and is often studied in law enforcement training. The scale of the shootout led to the introduction of more effective handguns, primarily switching from revolvers to semi-automatics, in the FBI and many police departments around the United States.

Background

Suspects

Michael Lee Platt and William Russell Matix met while serving in the United States Army at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Platt enlisted in the Army on June 27, 1972, as an infantryman. While in basic training, Platt applied for Army Airborne Ranger Training and subsequently entered the United States Army Air Assault School at Fort Campbell, upon completion of which he was assigned to the Military Police Unit. It was in this unit that he met and served with Matix. This is also where he met his first wife, Regina Lylen, whom he married in 1975.
Platt was honorably discharged in 1979, after which he moved to Florida with his wife and started a landscaping business called Blade Cutters with his brother, Tim. By December 1984, Platt and his wife had three children.
Matix first served in the United States Marine Corps, working as a cook in the officers' mess, and was stationed in Hawaii and Okinawa from April 1970 to March 1971 and April 1971 to March 1972 respectively, achieving the rank of Sergeant. He was honorably discharged on July 7, 1972. More than a year later, on August 10, 1973, Matix enlisted in the Army, serving with the military police under the 101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell. He served as a Military Police Officer and Squad Leader; a Guard Supervisor for the Post Stockade; and finally, a Patrol Supervisor, before being honorably discharged on August 9, 1976.
Both men's former wives had died under violent circumstances. Matix's wife, Patricia Mary Matix, and a female co-worker, Joyce McFadden, both cancer researchers, were stabbed to death on December 30, 1983, at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Their bodies were found in the hospital laboratory, having been bound and gagged before the killer/s stabbed them multiple times in the chest and neck. Matix was a suspect in the murders, but was never charged. He subsequently collected a $350,000 life insurance policy and later filed a $3 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Riverside Methodist Hospital.
After his wife's death, Matix and his infant daughter Melissa moved to Florida at Platt's urging. Matix briefly worked at Blade Cutters, but he and Platt eventually left to start their own landscaping business called Yankee Clipper Tree Trimming Service. According to the pastor of the Riverside Baptist Church where Matix regularly attended services, Matix had attempted to date a number of women in the congregation, stating that he used the church "the same way some people would use a singles bar." In May 1985, Matix married Christy Lou Horne, who moved out of the house two months later when Matix became enraged after learning she was pregnant. Horne would give birth to their son after Matix's death.
On December 21, 1984, Platt's wife, Regina, was found dead from a single shotgun blast to the mouth. Her death was ruled a suicide. Platt reportedly told investigators that he suspected Matix had carried on an affair with his wife. Just several weeks later, Platt married his second wife, Brenda Horne. The family subsequently moved to a luxury housing development, not far from where the later shootout would take place.

Crime spree

Before embarking on their crime spree, neither Platt nor Matix had a criminal record. At the time of the shootout, Platt's second wife, Brenda, claimed to have had no idea that her husband and his friend were armed robbers. Almost all of their robberies occurred on or near the South Dixie Highway in the southern Miami metropolitan area. The following are the crimes that are largely attributed to the two men:
  • On October 4, 1985, Platt and Matix murdered 25-year-old Emilio Briel while he was target shooting at a rock pit in the Florida Everglades. The pair stole Briel's car, a gold 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and used it to commit several robberies. Briel's remains were found in March 1986 but not identified until May.
  • On October 9, 1985, five days after killing Briel, Platt and Matix attempted to rob a Loomis armored van outside of a Steak and Ale restaurant in the 9000 block of Southwest 97th Avenue. They managed to steal a duffel bag containing $2,825 from a courier who was walking back to the armored van, but were unable to break into the van itself as the driver sped off before the robbers could steal the over $400,000 inside.
  • On October 16, 1985, Platt and Matix attempted to rob a Wells Fargo armored van that was servicing a Winn-Dixie supermarket at 7930 Southwest 104th Street. After ordering him to freeze, one of the pair shot a courier named Jose Sanchez in the leg with a shotgun while the other fired a rifle and possibly a handgun from the getaway vehicle. Two other guards returned fire, but neither Platt nor Matix was wounded. No money was taken in the botched robbery. Sanchez survived the shooting and would make a full recovery.
  • On October 17, 1985, Platt and Matix attempted to rob a Loomis armored van outside of a Dalts American Grill restaurant at 11641 Southwest 88th Street. The courier — the same one involved in the October 9 robbery — saw the two robbers as he was walking back to the armored van, drew his revolver, and opened fire. The robbers did not fire back and immediately fled the scene.
  • On November 8, 1985, two robberies occurred within 90 minutes of each other. The first robbery happened at a Florida National Bank branch at 14801 South Dixie Highway, where Platt and Matix stole a bag containing $10,000 from a bank teller. A police officer briefly tailed them as they left the bank and managed to get the license plate number of the getaway vehicle. The second robbery happened at the Professional Savings Bank at 13100 South Dixie Highway, where the robbers stole $41,469 in three Wells Fargo money bags that had been delivered that morning.
  • On January 10, 1986, Platt and Matix shot a Brinks Company courier as he opened the back door of his armored van at a Barnett Bank branch at 13593 South Dixie Highway. The courier was shot once in the back with a shotgun and twice more with a.223-caliber rifle, described by witnesses as an AR-15 or M16-style rifle, as he laid on the ground. Afterwards, the robbers escaped with $54,000 in Briel's Chevrolet Monte Carlo. A civilian followed them to the parking lot of a nearby Burger King restaurant, where he saw the two men transferring the money and guns to a white Ford F-150 pickup truck. The courier survived the shooting but was left with over 100 shotgun pellets in his body.
  • On March 12, 1986, Platt and Matix robbed and shot 30-year-old Jose Collazo as he was target shooting at a rock pit in the Florida Everglades, in an almost identical manner to Briel's killing; in fact, Collazo was shot not far from where Briel was murdered. According to Collazo, who survived the shooting, the two men arrived in a white Ford F-150 pickup truck and held him at gunpoint, taking the keys to Collazo's black 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo before shooting him three times in the back, arm, and head. Collazo played dead as the gunmen drove away in the F-150 and Monte Carlo, before walking three miles to get help.
  • On March 19, 1986, one week after shooting Collazo, Platt and Matix robbed a Barnett Bank branch, the same one that was targeted in the January 10 robbery, and stole $8,338 before fleeing in Collazo's Monte Carlo.
The robbers were nicknamed the "Unknown Gang" by the C-1 Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Miami office, which was formed for the sole purpose of combatting bank robberies in Miami. While they did not know of the suspects' identities, the C-1 Division were able to establish a pattern in the Unknown Gang's robberies, noting that the men always committed the robberies on Fridays when the armored vans made their drop-offs. C-1 concluded that the robbers would likely commit another robbery on Friday, April 11, 1986.

Events

Stakeout and attempted traffic stop

At 8:45 a.m. on April 11, 1986, a team of undercover FBI agents led by Special Agent Gordon McNeill assembled at a Home Depot to initiate a "rolling stakeout" in search of Collazo's Monte Carlo, acting on a hunch that the robbers would attempt a robbery that morning. Of the fourteen agents who participated in the stakeout, eight of them in five unmarked cars were involved in the shootout, and were deployed as follows:
  • 44-year-old Supervisory Special Agent Gordon McNeill
  • 43-year-old Special Agent Richard Manauzzi
  • 52-year-old Special Agent Benjamin Grogan, with 30-year-old Special Agent Jerry Dove
  • 33-year-old Special Agent Edmundo Mireles Jr., with 48-year-old Special Agent John Hanlon
  • 27-year-old Special Agent Gilbert Orrantia, with 43-year-old Special Agent Ronald Risner.
Of the agents involved, two had Remington 870 shotguns in their vehicles, three were armed with Smith & Wesson Model 459 9mm semi-automatic pistols, and the rest were armed with Smith & Wesson revolvers; two had.357 Magnums and five had.38 Specials. Two of the agents had backup.38 Special revolvers, which they both used during the shootout.
At around 9:30 a.m., agents Grogan and Dove were staking out a bank at the Barnett Shopping Center when they spotted the Monte Carlo, driven by Matix, and began to follow it after confirming that it was indeed Collazo's vehicle. Two other unmarked cars containing Hanlon, Mireles, and Manauzzi joined them, and eventually an attempt was made to conduct a traffic stop after the vehicles turned onto Southwest 82nd Avenue in the then-unincorporated village of Pinecrest.
Grogan pulled alongside the Monte Carlo as it drove south, while Hanlon and Manauzzi in the two other vehicles followed close behind, in an attempt to force Matix to pull over. Matix sped up and slammed into Grogan, who drove ahead in order to block the suspects' escape. Hanlon then rammed into Matix from behind, causing Matix to lose control of his vehicle, which spun around and was now facing the opposite direction from where the vehicles were driving. Hanlon also lost control of his vehicle in the collision and crashed into the wall of a substation located on the opposite side of the street. The Monte Carlo, now facing north, attempted to drive away before being rammed by Manauzzi. This collision sent the Monte Carlo nose first into a tree in a small parking area in front of a house at 12201 Southwest 82nd Avenue, pinned between a parked Oldsmobile Cutlass on its passenger side and Manauzzi's car on the driver side.
The collisions that forced the suspects off the road caused some unforeseen problems for the agents, as the FBI vehicles sustained damage from the heavier, older car driven by Matix. Just prior to ramming the Monte Carlo, Manauzzi had pulled out his service revolver and placed it on the seat in anticipation of a shootout, but the force of the collision flung open his door, and according to reports, his weapon either went flying out the door or was thrown to the floor. Hanlon also lost his.357 Magnum service revolver during the initial collision, though he was still able to fight with his Smith & Wesson Model 36 backup weapon. The collision also knocked off Grogan's glasses, and there is speculation his vision was so bad that he was unable to see clearly enough to be effective, a claim disputed by the FBI's medical director, who stated that Grogan's vision was "not that bad".