A Miami-Dade leader’s son is off to prison for undercover cop shooting

Steve Gallon IV, the namesake of a prominent Miami-Dade County politician and civil rights activist, pleaded guilty on Tuesday morning to an attempted murder charge stemming from the shooting of an undercover officer.

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Standing in red jail attire, Gallon IV, 36, changed his plea before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Alberto Milian. The judge sentenced Gallon IV to five years in prison, which was in line with the deal he struck with prosecutors.

He will receive credit for more than three years he served at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where he has been held since March 2023 arrest.

The Miami-Dade officer injured in the shooting, who attended the hearing but didn’t address the court, was in support of the agreement, prosecutor Tim VanderGiesen said.

VanderGiesen outlined the reasons for the plea agreement after being questioned by the judge about the deal. VanderGiesen said the state would have difficult proving that Gallon IV knew the victim was a police officer as the victim was in an unmarked unit.

“He could have not known,” VanderGiesen said.

The prosecutor also added that he was concerned about the difficulty of disproving that Gallon IV’s actions were justified if they were taken in defense of another, his co-defendant and friend Atiba Moore, 33.

Before being sentenced, Gallon IV declined to address the court but looked over to his family, who was sitting on the right side of the courtroom.

Gallon IV’s father, Steve Gallon III, was present but didn’t speak during the hearing. Gallon III is an incoming county commissioner, having won the election for the District 1 seat after no one else filed for the seat being vacated by the current commissioner, Oliver Gilbert, who is running for Congress. Commissioner-elect Gallon is scheduled to take office in early 2027. He was first elected to the Miami-Dade County School Board in 2016.

Outside the courtroom, attorney Roderick Vereen told reporters he is glad the case was resolved as the victim and the Gallon family have had it looming for more than three years. Vereen also pointed out how prosecutors acknowledged what he had said from the beginning: Gallon IV had no way of knowing the man he shot was a police officer because the officer was working undercover and had not identified himself.

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“My client did not know what was taking place,” the attorney said. “It was a situation where you don’t have all the facts and you think you are acting in support of someone else. Thankfully, no one was killed.”

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Gallon IV, accused of shooting at an undercover Miami-Dade officer, was handcuffed after coming out of a home in Allapattah during a massive manhunt. The officer, court records say, was about to conduct a traffic stop and was involved in some type of drug investigation when he was spotted by Moore, the driver.

Investigators believe Moore contacted Gallon IV and drove away, leading the officer to the home where Gallon IV was staying. When the officer arrived, Gallon IV came up behind the officer and shot him, according to court documents.

The bullet only grazed the officer’s neck, court records say. He was released from the hospital the next day.

Also arrested and charged with being accessories after the fact for harboring Gallon IV after the shooting were Kendrick Jose Watkins, 36, Frederick Lee Watkins, 31, and Andre Darrell Copeland, 50.

Their cases remain open as of Tuesday morning, according to court records. They have pleaded not guilty.

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Miami Herald staff writer Doug Hanks contributed to this report

This story was originally published September 29, 2026 at 12:02 PM.