MIRAMAR, Fla. (AP) – The FBI is marking the 30th anniversary of a bloody South Florida shootout that left two agents dead and led to changes in the weapons, body armor and tactics.
FBI Director James Comey said at a ceremony Monday that the April 11, 1986 gun battle with bank robbers in a Miami suburb showed law enforcement needed to update equipment and training to face criminals who were increasingly using military-grade weapons.
Agents Jerry L. Dove and Benjamin P. Grogan were killed in the firefight, and five other agents were wounded – the bloodiest single day in FBI history. Robbery suspects William Russell Matix and Michael Lee Platt also died.
Comey also dedicated a memorial paid for by private donations to Dove and Grogan at the FBI’s South Florida headquarters in Miramar.