◆ SpookStack

: : Shoot-Out — a wt re ‘Vbanks this started ak” —s, 8 ~ But the pursuit ended in the drive- : way of a well-shaded white brick du- >, plex on Southwest 82nd Avenue. The ‘s; sagents had the gunmen boxed in, and ‘S"the suspects wheeled their car into + the driveway, smashed into a bottle- * brush tree and camé out firing, said *.+ Joseph V, Corless, special agent in : charge of the FBPs Miami office. _As the suspects blazed away with a “*gabmachine gun and a modified shot- gun, the agents fought back with only a shotgun and their handguns. Witnesses said the FBI agents in- Meh ee oon 7? “terrupted their gunfire when drivers, - . anaware of what was happening, 2 "drove down the sireet. 5 There were so many shots fired in 1 ‘the 10-minute period that the smell of * guopowder began to waft through the 2 peighborhood, witnesses sald. ’ “all I beard was the shots. There . must've been 100 rounds fired. They were shooting for 10 minutes,” said Mario Tejeiro, who was unloading a - truck at an office complex near the » scene. : *.. “It went on and on and on,” said "Charlie Davis, who lives nearby: ‘+ ‘Witness Bob Stebbins said the inci- ‘dent could have been worse if the :'shooting had started later. The site ~ awas Gear Palmetto High School, and - ‘many students drive through the in- * -tersection at lunch, be said. . “Thank God it went down at that time. If it had gone down at lunch _ hour, it could have been a real disas- “ter,” he said. : ‘The FBI identified the slain agents “as Benjamin P. Grogan, 53, # 25-year _wéeteran, and Jerry Dove, 30, an FBI : agent since 19832. . Wounded and still in Baptist Hospi- i ttl last might were Gordon G. McNeill, 43, a 19-year veteran, who : was fn serious but stable condition; : “Baud Mireles Jr., $3, who joined FBI in September ‘1979 and ‘was in bie condition, and John F. Hanlon “ar, 48, an FBI agent since August 63 who was in serious but stable condition. ' Treated for minor wounds at Jack-° Se Memorial Hospital and released ay were Richard Mansurzl, qs. who has been with the bureau for’ “15 years, and Gilbert Orrantia, 27, an _ FBI agent since April 38 ABER. . . ‘Webster Wentified the dain scs- ts a¢ Michael Platt, 32, and Wil- . pst Matix, whose age was pot tee ra ee ria cin ” t A id ots, Se ‘he given. Speaking at a 1 Washington, D.C., news conference, Webster said the men “were particularly violent individuals” and heavily armed. “It appears they were armed with at least one automatic weapon capa- ble of firing at least 30 rounds in a single container and one shotgun that appears. to have been modified to carry additional shells,” be said. Meire-Dade police say the rock pit _ murderers would hide and walt for target shooters. They would ambush” the shooter, kill him and take his car, according to police. ts The car ued by the suspects was owned by Jose Collaazo, who survived _ an attack by the rock pit murderers. — On March 12, he was shot four times and left for dead. But he lived and walked three miles until he found @ pay phone and called police. - Last night, Collazo still had not identified the two suspects as the - men who. shot him. Al Carballosa, Metro-Dade police” spokesman, said there have been at least three armored car robberies and at least two bank robberies in southwestern Dade County during the _ last year. “Ty th wait for the guards and just shoot them. They were ruthless," Carba- Tosa: said. “ The FBI isn't used to losing agents, & spokesman said. “This is just a devastating tay fot * the FBI in Miami... This is the first time we've had as many agents killed and wounded In one particular | incl ‘dent,” Corless sald. Since it was formed in July 1608, * 27 agents have been killed by * “adver- karia] fire," French said. pames are on the bureau's Roll of Service Martyrs — onto which secon will be etched the names of Grogan and Dove, French sald. There have been other incidents | ‘when two agents were killed during a gunbattle but never with this many wounded also, French sald. On Aug: 8, 2978, two special agents J. Robert ; “Porter and Charles Elmore. were killed when a “deranged mere were | ’ ‘stormed inte thelr office, shot them and then committed suicide. In 1975, = From Page Im = mei ge he holdups, the group wontd — SS * Several years ‘ago ro five ag aa ‘were * killed when a small airplane ‘they were using to transport a suspect . crashed. But those men were pot iist- ‘ed as “martyrs” because they were “pot. attacked. Se The difference between a} lice’ officer's job and ap agent's job ac -eounts for the relatively low number - Of deaths the bureau bas suffered in athe heary 78 years it has been "French gal. b-~: Saas oP oe ap “Well, first of ‘all, we're an “enforcement agency the way the po- lice are,” he said. “The police are out on the street-on a regular basis, They are more likely to catch people with — stolen cars and burglars and robbers | in the act of committing the erime. ’, “Most of our work is reactive: We ~ ean usually choose our oceasion of arrest and then come in with greater © manpower and firepower than the people we're arresting.” eae mre = eee oO This report was supplemented by The Associated Press. noe a: _ 29 Agents | Died on Duty - * MIAME (AP) ~ The ‘death of two. I agents killed fi a shoot-out ye: yes- terday in a Miami suburb brought to “29 the number of agents Killed on - eee eduty since the FBI was formed | in 2908. . Edwin Shanahan was the” “agent to die in the line of du rH ‘was fatally shot by a Cicage, carey shel in October of 1925. . mS a stent a two agents were killed during.an [-*- American Indian Movement take- “aver at Wounded Russell Means waz charged with | that erime but never convicted. 8 One 2 ott ee fee 2Bske ot Ev thes 4,