New images released by journalist Maylin Legañoa from Telemundo 51 provide a unique glimpse into the police operation in Palmetto Estates that ended with the death of 21-year-old Cuban Christopher Barata and the arrest of his brother, Cristian, who is accused of possession and promotion of child pornography.
The video, captured by a Ring camera installed at the entrance of the home, shows the moment when several agents from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office SWAT team arrive in tactical formation: they move stealthily, with rifles raised and ballistic shields, until one of them approaches the digital doorbell and covers the camera with tape, blocking any visual record of the rest of the operation.
The brief excerpt does not show any gunfire or arrests, but it does reveal the intensity of the police presence in the moments leading up to the shooting that ended Christopher's life, who, according to the official account, was armed and did not obey the officers' commands. The family insists that this is false.
The mother of the young men, Judimí Rodríguez, has repeated to several media outlets that her son was “caught sleeping”, that he was unarmed, and that “he was killed in the living room” without the family understanding what was happening.
Another relative said he received a desperate call asking him to pick up the little boy who lived in the house. "No one explained anything to us," he noted.
The images released now do not clarify what happened inside the house, but they do raise questions from a family who claims that the raid was excessive and who have even begun to wonder if the authorities targeted the wrong house, a claim that Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz has vehemently denied.
While the Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues to investigate the shooting, the Barata family's pain is compounded by a complex legal process involving Cristian, who faces 25 charges related to child pornography and remains in custody on bail.
Filed under:
