1986 Miami Firefight, Five Minutes that Changed the Bureau, with Ed Mireles

This week we talk to Edmundo Mireles, Jr.. We discuss the 1986 Miami Firefight and how that event change law enforcement.

Mr. Mireles was born in Alice, Texas and raised in Beeville, TX. In 1971 he enlisted in the US Marines. He served as a Marine Security Guard at the US Embassy’s in Sophia, Bulgaria; Reykjavik, Iceland; Brussels, Belgium and Madrid, Spain.

After graduating from the University of Maryland in 1979, Mr. Mireles entered on duty with the FBI. He is a 25-year veteran of the FBI with experience as an FBI Street Agent, Supervisor and Manager in a wide range of investigative and administrative areas, as well as extensive Undercover (UC) work. Mr. Mireles served as the primary Undercover Agent in scores of high level and high-risk narcotics, criminal and national security investigations.

He has been involved in two deadly force confrontations with armed adversaries and has been wounded twice. He is married to Elizabeth who was also an FBI Agent.

On April 11, 1986 eight FBI Agents and two Para-military bank robbers faced off on a quiet street in South Miami. This face off was the culmination of a seven-month investigation into several armored truck and bank robberies perpetrated by two unknown men.

The stage was set for what has been called the FBI Miami Firefight. Eight FBI Agents and two bank robbers faced off in a small area in front of a residence. Ten men faced off for five minutes in that small area. There were approximately 150 shots fired in that short span of time. At the end of the gunfight, nine out of the ten participants were wounded or killed. That is a 90% causality rate. The two bank robbers were dead as well as FBI Special Agents Ben Grogan and Jerry Dove. Five other agents were wounded including FBI Special Agent Mireles who was shot twice. The five-minute gunfight between eight FBI agents and two murderous bank robbers changed law enforcement training, equipment and tactics throughout the U.S.

FBI Special Agent Mireles is nationally and internationally recognized by law enforcement officers, journalists and hand gun enthusiasts as the last man standing in this historic gunfight. It is a monumental event that has been referred to as “Five Minutes that Changed the Bureau.”

In October 1986 the International Association of Chiefs of Police awarded Mr. Mireles its National Police Officer of the Year Award for the Year 1986.  The US Department of Justice recognized Mr. Mireles as the Federal Law Enforcement Officer of the Year and awarded him the Attorney Generals Award for Exceptional Heroism. He was awarded the FBI Medal of Valor.  The Texas Department of Criminal Justice honored Mr. Mireles by dedicating the Edmundo Mireles Criminal Justice Training Academy in his name. The academy is located in Beeville, Texas.

Mr. Mireles retired in March of 2004. He spent four years working in Iraq as a Law Enforcement Professional and advisor to the Iraqi Police. One-year (in uniform) embedded with the 1st (MEF) Marines in Fallujah, the 10th Mountain Division in Baghdad and Basrah. Mr. Mireles also worked with the U.S. Department of State in Baghdad. He later worked for a year with the State Department helping train police in Mexico and a year helping to train police in Belize.

Mr. Mireles has published his account of what happened on April 11, 1986 in a recently released book “FBI Miami Firefight, Five Minutes that Changed the Bureau.” Mr. Mireles has sold thousands of copies of his book which can be purchased at www.edmireles.com, Amazon or Kindle.

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