Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns FBI 1986 Miami review tape..

All the agents being killed and the bank robbers getting away.

My recollection is that the shotgun stopped the fight, and the revolver just sealed the deal.

Regarding wearing a vest, the bad guys around here, Tampa Bay area, shoot the cops in the head.

Early on, the story was likely told several different ways. I recall an early account of an injured agent stopping the man with the Mini-14 using a single round from his snubby .38 Special.

Dr. French Anderson's book, Forensic Analysis of the 1986 FBI Miami Firefight is IMHO the most comprehensive analysis of the fight, and has been endorsed by Ed Mireles and others. It's a true tour de force of the dynamics and physics of the gunfight. I believe it's available through Calibre Press.

I'm not sure that you could say any single gun used by the FBI "saved the day", although Agent Jerry Dove's 115 gr 9mm Silvertip bullet was the shot that turned Platt into a dead man walking and was possibly the best shot the FBI agents got in that day.

This bullet perforated his right arm, severing the brachial artery and causing massive external bleeding, then entered the right hemithorax all the way to the right pulmonary artery and vein roots, which it severed causing massive internal bleeding.

Matix, the other felon at the scene, was severely disabled by two 38 Special GSW's to the upper chest and neck very early in the fight and never fired a shot after sustaining these wounds. I can't recall off the top of my head who fired those rounds for sure, but it might have been Agent Gordon McNeil. Taking Matix out of the fight at the outset was probably critical, considering that the FBI agents barely survived fighting only one opponent, Michael Platt.

Platt's GSW was non-survivable. But his determination was such that he continued to fight even though severely wounded.

Agent Ed Mireles finished the fight by shooting Platt multiple times with his Remington 870 shotgun, but was lucky beyond belief in surviving Platt's volley of revolver shots at him (Platt failed to hit him even once). One of Mireles' buckshot loads shredded Platt's foot, which wound may have caused him to reverse course and get into the "getaway" car before closing on Mireles and killing him. Mireles then advanced on Platt with his revolver, and shot him 5 or 6 times with that weapon. However, by this time Platt was immobile in the "getaway" car and dying from the chest wound inflicted by Dove's 9mm bullet. On autopsy, none of Mireles' final bullets caused critical gunshot wounds.

As others have pointed out, the firearms/calibers used by the FBI weren't the biggest problem that day. The FBI agents made a number of critical errors in tactics. Their marksmanship was pretty good, all things considered, but they brought handguns to a riflefight.

Doc,

The info I read is a little different. It has Matix taking a 158 grain hollow point from a .38 special in the nasal cavity after firing one round of 12 gauge no. 6 shot. It is believed the this caused him to remain unconscious until he exited the Monte Carlo and went to the agents car.

It also says after Mireles fired on both subjects with 00 buck both were still alive. Mireles then advanced on the car shooting both men three times each with his 686 killing both.

Dink

DINK... I am working from memory here, can't find my copy of Anderson's book, but what you've written has jogged my memory and IIRC I believe you're correct, one or possibly two of Mireles' three bullets into Matix was the shot(s) that killed him. But as we both have observed, Matix took two bullets from McNeill's revolver, one of which put him out of the fight very early.

However, I'm pretty sure none of the bullets he put into Platt during the final sequence were considered fatal shots on autopsy. It seems that they had a cumulative effect on him, though, as he expired shortly after Mireles shot him. Platt was all but dead already, Mireles' final shots into him were icing on the cake.

On autopsy, they evacuated more than 1400 cc of blood from Platt's chest. Examination of the crime scene photos led to estimates of about 1000 cc of blood loss from his brachial artery wound. Total blood volume in a man his size would be about 5-5.5 liters, so blood loss of 2.5 liters before he died was astouding. Most people who sustain loss of 40% of their blood volume are unconscious and dead/dying, Platt fought to the point of 50%+ blood loss. That little 9mm bullet from Dove's gun killed him, it just didn't kill him quickly enough.

Platt was a very fit man, and as such was able to force himself to continue to fight until he was almost dead. This is characteristic of fit young men... they just keep going and going despite blood loss/dehydration until they reach the critical point, then they collapse and die very quickly.

Doc, you make me want to resurrect the box of 115 grain Silvertips I have for my 9mm....

The Miami Shootout in 1986 and the Rodney King incident were two game changers in Modern Law Enforcement, that is for sure.

Doc,

I am also going from memory so that may not be exact. I know several people believe if Matix would have been in the fight all seven agents would have been killed.

There are tons of things to be learned from this. I could not imagine going after a pair of killers with 12 rounds of ammo for my duty pistol. Also the agents could of had rifles but failed to take them (they wouldn't check them out of the armory).

It also shows the importance of making those close shots count. When you are 6 to 8 feet apart you better be hitting what is shooting at you or your going to catch a bullet.

I remember watching this on the news on the day it happened when I was a kid. It has always been the gunfight I have study and discussed the most. A lot of young cops now have never heard about it.

Dink

I remember Mireles saying that they were using the weapons that they were qualified to use by the FBI.

Matrix fired 1 shot from his 12 gauge before being hit under his left eye. The bullet passing through the sinus cavity and stopping against the vertebrae. This is believed to have disoriented him and he fired no more rounds.

The shot gun rounds were basically ineffective and did little real damage. Pratt did not fire a handgun a Mireles since he dropped it earlier after being hit just behind the wrist.

Dr Franklin's book is very good complete with ex rays and autopsic reports. Had agent Dove's bullet have reached the heart Pratt could not have remained upright more than 30 to 40 seconds according to experts, yet he continued to fight for another 4 1/2 minutes as he bleed out.

Didn't Platt get the revolver from Matix while they were seated in the agents car? Platt then exited the car and shot at Mireles. I believe it was a Dan Wesson .357 that Matix had in a shoulder holster.

Dink

Not that I remember, He was unable to fire it after being hit just behind the wrist, at that point he dropped the revolver and went back to firing the rifle. I do not believe he fired at Mireles. Mireles did not fire for sometime after being hit, he fired first with the shotgun shooting Pratt in the feet shooting under the car. The buckshot hits to Pratt's feet did not knock him down and he got into Grogan and Doves car to drive away, Mires drew his revolver and shooting weak hand advanced firing.

It's no wonder that Platt and Matix were "fit." Here is their military training.

"Michael Lee Platt: 6'0" - 173 lbs.
U.S. Army (#526087944) from 27 June 1972-1 May 1979
Honorable Discharge; E-6
Airborne Ranger trained at Fort Campbell: 9/73-5/75
Also served in M.P. Unit there with Matix. Service notation includes "High Combat Proficiency."
MOS: 11B10, 11B20, 11B30

William Russell Matix: 6'1" - 147 lbs.
Marine Corps (#2578943) from 7 October 1969-7 July 1972. Honorable Discharge; E-5
U.S. Army (#2578943) from 10 August 1973-9 August 1976. Honorable Discharge; E-5
MOS: Military Police, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Kentucky."


This wasn't their first night at the rodeo.

L.W.

What were they wanted for?

Seems like a spur of the moment takedown, can't imagine intentionally going after armed thugs with that little firepower and prep.

Mike

As I recall it, they were bank robbers.

Their specialty was armor cars...and they had already killed at least one guard during a robbery...and it was not a "spur of the moment" stop... They knew what they were looking for right down to the license plate number of the stolen Monte Carlo that was taken a few days before when they left the owner for dead out in the Everglades.

Like I said in the original post there is a lot more to this and the more you study the incident the more questions you come up with...

Bob

Thanks guys, even more reason it's hard to believe the way it went down then...

Mike

They went out specifically looking for them. Considering the condition in which they were, I don't think they expected to find them. Guns in cases, vests not worn or draped over them. Doesn't sound like guys who expected to actually encounter them. Because they knew they would fight, and they knew they would fight hard. So I've never been convinced they really expected to find them.

Not if you've ever spent time around Feebs

They were on a rolling stake out looking for them. Some agents had automatic weapons, the one that found the bad guys did not. When Pratt and Matrix headed toward a residential area they decision was made to execute a rolling stop because they believed they had been spotted. One car got in front, one behind and one on the side and forced then off of the road.