Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office releases critical-incident footage; FDLE review ongoing after Nov. 3 pursuit.
HOMESTEAD, FL — Newly released video shows a Miami-Dade sheriff’s deputy firing once and wounding an 18-year-old suspected carjacker during a nighttime chase through backyards on Nov. 3 in a Homestead neighborhood, after investigators say the teen pointed an assault-style rifle.
Authorities released the compilation Tuesday to explain the sequence that began with a carjacking and ended with the deputy’s shot. The footage comes as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducts an independent investigation, a standard step in shootings involving officers. The deputy was not injured. Three suspects were detained that night, and prosecutors are weighing the case while detectives continue gathering records, neighborhood video and interview statements that may guide charging decisions and internal reviews.
The incident started around 8:54 p.m. on Nov. 3 outside Empire Fitness Club at 27950 SW 127th Ave., when a woman in a black Chevrolet Tahoe was confronted by three masked males, according to arrest reports. She ran into the gym and later used the vehicle’s mobile app to help deputies track the SUV. Deputies from crime suppression units found it about eight miles away near Southeast 25th Avenue and Southeast 28th Drive, in a residential stretch of Homestead. When marked units closed in, the suspects bailed out and ran between homes as doorbell cameras recorded figures sprinting down the block. “Let me see your hands!” a deputy shouts in the bodycam audio. Seconds later, a single shot is heard. As the deputy closes the distance, the wounded teen can be seen on the ground inside a backyard, saying, “Sir, you shot me,” while the deputy radios for rescue and applies a tourniquet.
Investigators identified the wounded suspect as 18-year-old Stephan Jones. Detectives said he had an assault-style rifle, which is visible on the grass in the released clips after the shooting. Two additional suspects were taken into custody: 18-year-old Tyquawn Davis and a 16-year-old boy. The Sheriff’s Office said all three were armed during the chase, though the precise moments when weapons were raised are not fully visible on camera. Jones was treated at Jackson South Medical Center and later booked. According to arrest records, Jones faces counts including aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, improper exhibition of a weapon and resisting without violence. Davis faces armed robbery/carjacking and resisting charges. The juvenile was arrested on a resisting count. No deputies or bystanders were reported injured. Two firearms were recovered at the scene, investigators said.
The department’s critical-incident video stitches together body-worn camera, dispatch audio and neighborhood surveillance to clarify timing and distances in the dark. Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said she released the footage in the interest of transparency while FDLE’s independent review proceeds. “Regardless of the outcome, my commitment is clear, to be transparent with our community,” she said in a statement accompanying the video. The release also outlines the route from the gym, where the carjacking was reported, to the Homestead neighborhood where the chase ended. The footage shows deputies moving with flashlights through fenced yards and the moments after the shot, when a rifle lies several feet from Jones as a deputy secures him and asks where he is hit.
The Sheriff’s Office said the deputy fired when Jones pointed the rifle. That assertion will be tested in FDLE’s review, which routinely includes frame-by-frame analysis of video, ballistics, weapon recovery logs, radio timestamps and witness interviews. After FDLE completes its findings, the case is generally forwarded to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office for a use-of-force determination. The Sheriff’s Office typically conducts an internal administrative review in parallel to assess whether policies on pursuit, use of force and body-worn camera activation were followed. Court records for the co-defendants will move on separate tracks; initial appearance and arraignment dates were not immediately available Tuesday.
Neighbors described hearing shouting and a pop, then seeing cruisers sweep the block. Doorbell clips shared with investigators show two figures darting past driveways lined with chain-link fencing and parked sedans. In the bodycam, the wounded teen asks several times for an ambulance, and the deputy replies that rescue is en route. “Don’t move,” the deputy says, as additional units arrive and secure a perimeter along Southeast 28th Drive. The homeowner seen in the clip gestures toward the yard as deputies step through a side gate and begin searching for the discarded firearm before marking it near a patch of grass.
As of late Tuesday, Jones remained in custody in a case tied to the Nov. 3 events. Davis also remained jailed on the carjacking count, and the juvenile suspect’s status was not released. FDLE’s investigation continues, with no timetable announced for a final report. The Sheriff’s Office said additional records, including 911 calls and supplemental body-worn camera files, will be released in accordance with state law as reviews progress.
Author note: Last updated January 14, 2026.