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Doctors today are still struggling to save the life of an off-duty New York City cop grievously wounded during an early morning shootout on South Beach on Saturday. Detective Harold Thomas has undergone at least two surgeries after a bullet tore through his femoral artery during the gunfight on Collins Avenue.
Miami Beach police have yet to announce any motive for the shooting. “He’s been in a medically induced coma, so we can’t interview the detective,” Det. Juan Sanchez, a Miami Beach PD spokesman, tells Riptide.
Thomas traveled to South Beach with two other off-duty cops on vacation, The Miami Herald reports this morning.
Just after 7 a.m. on Saturday, Thomas got into a gunfight outside his hotel, the 1233 Lofts at 12th Street and Collins. He was armed at the time and apparently got off at least one shot at his attackers in what police are calling a “random act” unrelated to Thomas’ day job in NYC.
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Joseph Cusanelli, another New York detective, tells Channel 10 that Thomas may have been the victim of an “early morning robbery attempt.”
“It’s very upsetting, very upsetting, that one of our own city detectives comes down on vacation and gets involved in this and is shot by somebody trying to rob him,” Cusanelli tells the station.
Thomas has some serious credentials in New York: 27-years on the force, a first-grade detective badge and a spot on the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Sanchez says MBPD will issue a release when they have more details to share about the crime or any suspects in the shooting.
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