Ricardo Gonzalez
Florida Department of Corrections
A Miami-Dade Death Row inmate who, along with four other men, ambushed and gunned down a North Miami police officer during a bank robbery, is scheduled to be executed soon.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a death warrant for Ricardo Gonzalez, 56, who was convicted and condemned to die for the Jan. 3, 1992, murder of Officer Steven Bauer, 39. Bauer, a father of three, grew up in North Miami and had been a police officer for 12 years.
Gonzalez’s execution is scheduled for Dec. 1 at Florida State Prison in Raiford.
Steven Bauer Officer Down Memorial Page
Bauer, who was working in uniform, was shot twice — with one of the bullets piercing his heart — during a robbery at Kislak National Bank, 13490 NW Seventh Ave. Gonzalez and four other men participated in $17,000 heist, which began around 7:50 a.m., 10 minutes before opening time, according to the Miami Herald’s archives.
Bauer was escorting bank tellers to their drive-in stations moments before he was gunned down.
Gonzalez was convicted and sentenced to death in 1994. He received a new sentencing trial, but a second Miami-Dade jury voted to send him to Florida’s Death Row, where he has remained since 1998.
His execution warrant comes a week after DeSantis signed a warrant for Thomas Overton, another South Floridian on Death Row. Overton was sentenced to death for strangling third-grade teacher Susan “Missy” MacIvor, 29, and her husband Michael MacIvor, 30, inside their Florida Keys home.
READ MORE: Execution date set for killer who strangled couple inside their Florida Keys home
In October, DeSantis canceled the execution of William Thompson after his attorneys raised concerns about his mental capacity, including possibly having dementia. Thompson was convicted of the brutal 1976 torture and murder of 23-year-old Sally Ivester in North Miami Beach.
‘Cold, vicious killing’
Gonzalez, Leonardo Franqui, Pablo San Martin, Fernando Fernandez and Pablo Abreu were all involved in Bauer’s murder.
The men methodically planned the robbery, according to the Herald archives. They stole two gray Chevrolet Caprices to confuse witnesses, cased the bank before the heist and assigned each man a role.
Gonzalez, and Leonardo Franqui, 56, who is on Florida’s Death Row as well for the killing, shot Bauer. Abreu, 72, who will remain behind bars for the rest of his life, drove the getaway car. San Martin, 59, and Fernandez, who Florida prison records list as deceased, helped steal the cars used in the robbery. San Martin and Fernandez were sentenced to life for Bauer’s murder.
San Martin was also tasked with grabbing the cash tray, which contained $17,000.
Franqui shot Bauer with a 9mm handgun. Gonzalez fired the fatal bullet from a .357 pistol. The bullet struck Bauer in the neck and traveled into his heart. Police later recovered the firearms in the bottom of a muddy canal at Northwest 10th Street and 18th Avenue.
After their arrests, the men gave detectives a detailed confession, saying they confronted Bauer as he escorted the tellers, who were carrying money to their drive-in posts.
Bauer, according to the tellers, was singing a Christian hymn moments before he was shot. He had been teasing the tellers, telling them, “You girls are going to be busy today.”
Suddenly, the men attacked Bauer. He tried to grab his gun, but Gonzalez and Franqui fired at him first.
“Officer Bauer did not stand a chance,” North Miami Police Chief Kenneth Each said at the time, according to the Herald’s coverage. “It’s a cold, vicious killing. Totally, totally premeditated.”
After the shooting, the tellers rushed over to the officer, who was lying in a pool of blood. Even as he was dying, they said, the first thing he asked was, “Are you all right?”
As detectives investigated the murder, they gathered evidence, interviewed witnesses and crafted sketches of the men. But the break in the case came when a Santería priest called in a tip: Fernandez had confessed to the killing, the priest told police.
A month before Bauer’s murder, several of the men had been involved in the murder of Raul Lopez, 46, who was shot to death during a Hialeah robbery. Franqui, Abreu and San Martin were charged and convicted in the murder.
Franqui and San Martin were sentenced to death for Lopez’s killing.
Miami Herald
Grethel covers courts and the criminal justice system for the Miami Herald. She graduated from the University of Florida (Go Gators!), speaks Spanish and Arabic and loves animals, traveling, basketball and good storytelling. Grethel also attends law school part time.