{"id":296859,"date":"2026-06-05T06:27:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/296859\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T06:27:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:27:29","slug":"miami-dade-deputy-cleared-of-wrongdoing-in-fatal-walmart-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/296859\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami-Dade deputy cleared of wrongdoing in fatal Walmart shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla.  \u2014 A Miami-Dade Sheriff\u2019s Office deputy has been cleared of wrongdoing after he fatally shot a shoplifting suspect at a Walmart in the county\u2019s Goulds area, Local 10 learned Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/espanol\/2026\/06\/04\/exoneran-a-agente-de-miami-dade-de-irregularidades-en-balacera-mortal-en-walmart\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/espanol\/2026\/06\/04\/exoneran-a-agente-de-miami-dade-de-irregularidades-en-balacera-mortal-en-walmart\/\">Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">According to a closeout memo from the Miami-Dade State Attorney\u2019s Office, Deputy Wilfredo Ortega was \u201clegally justified\u201d in shooting Kennedy Graham, who battered Ortega and resisted arrest before fleeing from the deputy while holding a gun.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2025\/11\/06\/mdso-deputy-shooting-occurs-in-southwest-miami-dade\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2025\/11\/06\/mdso-deputy-shooting-occurs-in-southwest-miami-dade\/\" target=\"_blank\">shooting occurred back on Nov. 6, 2025<\/a>, outside a Walmart in the area of Southwest 211th Street and South Dixie Highway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">According to authorities, Ortega, who was patrolling the area at the time, was alerted around 7:15 a.m. about a subject inside the store who was allegedly stealing merchandise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Detectives said Graham, 36, ran away from the deputy, and the two got into a physical altercation just outside the store\u2019s front doors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2026\/01\/22\/video-shows-miami-dade-deputy-shooting-shoplifting-suspect-outside-walmart\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2026\/01\/22\/video-shows-miami-dade-deputy-shooting-shoplifting-suspect-outside-walmart\/\">Surveillance video<\/a> shows that Graham dropped a black handgun during the struggle with the deputy and then picked it up before running away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Ortega then fired at Graham, striking him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Authorities said Ortega rendered aid to Graham until Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel arrived.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Paramedics transported Graham to a local hospital, where he died.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz told the media after the shooting that Graham had an \u201cextensive criminal past.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Earlier this year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2026\/01\/23\/sister-of-man-fatally-shot-by-miami-dade-deputy-its-just-like-he-murdered-my-brother\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2026\/01\/23\/sister-of-man-fatally-shot-by-miami-dade-deputy-its-just-like-he-murdered-my-brother\/\">Local 10 News spoke with Graham\u2019s sister<\/a>, who said she believes the shooting was unjustified. She said video of the incident shows her brother running away from the deputy and does not clearly show that he was carrying a gun.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 A Miami-Dade Sheriff\u2019s Office deputy has been cleared of wrongdoing after he fatally shot&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-296859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}