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Miami Beach Police say they have found a gun in the blue Hyundai that Raymond Herisse was driving when he was shot and killed by cops early Monday morning during Urban Beach Week.
According to police Chief Carlos Noriega, officers discovered a black Beretta 92-F semiautomatic pistol hidden somewhere in Herisse’s car while they were processing the bullet-ridden vehicle Wednesday evening.
Noriega called the discovery “great news,” according to the Miami Herald. But a hell of a lot of questions remain regarding what happened that night.
“Everything is panning out the way we believe it happened,” Noriega said. “We were told he was seen with a firearm and, sure enough, there was a firearm in the car.”
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The police chief said only ballistic tests would show whether the gun had been fired, as cops initially claimed.
Police say Herisse ignored a Hialeah officer who tried to stop his vehicle just before 4 a.m. near Collins Avenue and 16th Street. Instead, Herisse hit the cop — possibly others as well — before plowing through barricades and screeching off down the road.
A bystander video shows Herisse’s car tearing down Collins until four gunshots bring it to a sudden halt near 13th Street. Police then surround the vehicle and, after a brief standoff, unload a flurry of bullets into the car.
Noriega told the Herald it took three days to find the gun because it wasn’t in plain sight and because officers had first focused on processing the crime scene and interviewing witnesses.
But the amount of time it took to find the gun suggests Herisse might not have had it out at the time of the incident. If that’s the case, it would once again raise questions over whether the shooting was justified — although Herisse’s car could also be considered a deadly weapon.
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