MDSO deputies cleared in fatal car-dealership shooting. Man shot himself: memo

Crime admin June 27, 2026 0 Comments

MDSO deputies cleared in fatal car-dealership shooting. Man shot himself: memo

A man who died after a shootout with Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies at a car dealership near South Miami last year was felled from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, not by rounds fired by the deputies, according to a report released Friday by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors cleared the two deputies involved in the chaotic, April 24, 2025, scene at Priced Right Motors because they determined deadly force was appropriate, according to the close-out memo in the case.

READ MORE: Family dispute ends in shootout near Tropical Park that kills 1, injures 2: deputies

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the agency that investigates all police-involved shootings, said Roberto Leyva, 49, drove his scooter to the business at 7321 Southwest 45th Street around 12:30 p.m. armed with a .223 semiautomatic rifle and a 9 mm handgun to confront his 35-year-old half-brother, Eduardo Rivero Jr., who inherited the the dealership.

Leyva shot Rivero in the side of the head and shot an employee, 35-year-old Armando Yadro, in the collarbone, according to the memo. Rivero died, and Yadro has recovered.

Deputy Dea Harris arrived at the fenced-in business around 12:40 p.m., followed about two minutes later by Deputy Alfredo Perez. A South Miami police officer, Armando Posse, arrived about the same time, according to the memo.

Security-camera footage filmed Harris and Perez getting out of their cars armed with their Glock service pistols and ballistic shields, the report states. That camera did not record any shots being fired, but the deputies’ body cameras did, according to the report.

As Harris entered the fenced-in parking lot and moved toward the office, she is heard yelling “put down your weapon.” Her camera also picked up the sound of men yelling at each other, one saying, “Robert, don’t do this,” the report states. Harris is then seen on her camera holding her Glock forward with two hands while walking backward ordering, “Put down your weapon,” according to the report.

At 12:53 p.m., the audio on Harris’ camera records the sound of one gunshot and a man yelling, “You don’t have to do this,” the memo states. Harris is heard on her camera yelling, “Hey, put down your weapon,” as she retreats backward firing several rounds, according to the memo.

Perez and Posse, meanwhile, were positioned outside the fenced parking area, prosecutors wrote. Perez’s body camera, whose view was blocked by the ballistic shield that he was holding, records him asking his colleague, “You see him, you see him” before he fired several rounds, according to the report.

Posse, the South Miami cop, told FDLE investigators that he saw a grenade being thrown in his direction and a muzzle flash from a gun coming from the office area, according to the report. The grenade turned out to be a smoke bomb, the report states.

“Once deemed safe,” deputies approached the business and found Rivero with a gunshot wound to the side of his head. Yadro was hit in the collarbone. He told cops he played dead after Leyva shot him. Deputies found Leyva slumped over in a chair in the office with a gunshot wound to the head, the memo states.

Paramedics took all three men to a hospital. Rivero died that day. Yadro eventually made a full recovery. Leyva was eventually released to a long-term care facility, but doctors were never able to dislodge the bullet from his brain, and he was readmitted to a hospital, where he died on Feb. 14, 2026, the memo states.

FDLE investigators determined Harris and Perez each fired six rounds, but did not hit Leyva, Rivero or Yadro. Investigators said the deputies’ bullets did, however, likely cause damage to several parked cars in front of the business as well as some neighboring buildings, the memo states.

According to FDLE investigators, the deputies and the South Miami officer walked into a very dangerous situation that day. Not only was Leyva heavily armed, but bomb-squad deputies found several explosive devices throughout the parking lot, the memo states.

Deputies found 67 .223 rounds and 9 mm rounds near Leyva’s scooter as well as a plastic bag containing nine loaded, 30-round capacity rifle magazines, and one empty, 30-round magazine, according to the memo.

Inside the business’ parking lot and just outside the lot, cops found 17 spent 9 mm shell casings and 50 spent .223 rifle casings, according to the memo.

Assistant State Attorney Sara Imm wrote in her memo that the deputies were justified in using deadly force.

“Under these circumstances, it is reasonable to conclude that both Deputy Harris and Deputy Perez believed that the use of deadly force was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to themselves and/or the other two civilians present at the time,” Imm wrote.