Miami Police Arrest Damian Thompson, Teen Suspected In Ambush Of Undercover Detectives

Miami police have charged a teen with two counts of attempted murder Wednesday in connection to an "ambush" of two plainclothes detectives who were sitting in an unmarked vehicle Monday night.

Damian "Damo" Thompson, 19, was arrested for firing bullets from a high-powered rifle into the windshield of the car that seated detectives Charles Woods, 37, and Terence White, 47, the Miami Herald reported. Police officials said a group of men approached the vehicle, which was parked outside of a Northwest Miami-Dade apartment building as part of a surveillance operation, and opened fire.

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"They were ambushed in their vehicle, unprovoked," Miami-Dade Police Maj. Hector Llevat said.

White was shot in the leg and a bullet grazed Woods' arm. Fellow officers rushed the detectives to a nearby hospital in the back of a pickup truck. Police said White was in stable condition and Woods was released from the hospital.

Police said Thompson is a suspected member of the neighborhood gang known as the 13th Avenue Hot Boyz. A tip led police to a hotel near Miami International Airport where they apprehended Thompson, the Herald reported. Thompson was previously arrested for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute in 2015, but the charges were dropped. In January, Thompson was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and White was involved in the arrest.

Nine law enforcement officers have been feloniously killed in 2017, according to the FBI, as well as another 14 who have been accidentally killed this year. Those total represent a drop from 2016, when 15 officers were feloniously killed and 11 were accidentally killed over the same time period.

In recent years, there have been a number of high-profile attacks on police have resulted in the deaths. In 2016, Micah Johnson killed five officers during a protest in Dallas and Gavin Long shot fatally shot three police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

These types of targeted killings have led lawmakers in many states to propose "Blue Lives Matter" bills, which would make it a hate crime to commit targeted violence against law enforcement and first responders. Opponents say strong laws are already in place for attacking officers and these laws could lead to hate crime charges for people who simply resist arrest.