Officer who shot bystander in Wynwood likely won’t be charged, attorney says

Crime admin October 9, 2026 0 Comments

Officer who shot bystander in Wynwood likely won’t be charged, attorney says

More than a year later, the family of Evelyn Caridad Valdes is no closer to getting answers about why the young Baptist Health social worker was killed by a Miami police officer’s bullet as she sat in a car in traffic in front of a Wynwood nightclub.

And on Friday, they learned that the officer who shot Valdes likely won’t face criminal charges.

Valdes, who was turning 28, was killed by a stray bullet fired by police in the early morning hours of June 14, 2025, outside a Wynwood nightclub. The officers were firing at an armed man who came out of the club fighting another man.

During a news conference outside of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office on Friday, Valdes’ mother, Kristy Garcia, said she was frustrated to hear that the officer who killed her daughter may not be prosecuted.

“Are they going to pay for what they did? It was a careless act,” she said. “This didn’t need to happen.”

The officer, Garcia said, was back at work less than two weeks after fatally shooting Valdes. Garcia said she didn’t want the officer sent to prison for life but said he “needs to have consequences.”

Garcia’s attorney Ramon Rasco said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle met with them on Friday afternoon for an hour. Rasco said the State Attorney’s Office committee recommended that the officer who fired the fatal bullet should not be prosecuted.

A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said “the matter is still under review” following Fernandez Rundle’s meeting with Valdes’ mother.

“It’s unlikely that there will be a prosecution here, but we do not have a final decision,” Rasco said.

Rasco also said he has yet to obtain or review the report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Neither the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office nor the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the state police agency that investigates officer-involved shootings, have finished their inquiries of the shooting.

“They were reckless,” Rasco said, adding that innocent bystanders were on the street. “There were 11 to 12 shots shot into a crowded street in Wynwood at 3 in the morning …. when the clubs are letting out.”

Valdes was sitting in the backseat of a Mazda SUV outside the Electric Lady nightclub at 144 NW 23rd St. around 3:05 a.m. Saturday, June 14, 2025, when she was shot in the torso. Twenty minutes later, she died at Jackson Memorial Hospital. One of her friends who was sitting in the front passenger seat was grazed in the leg by another bullet.

The tragedy punctuated what was supposed to be Valdes’ 28th birthday celebration. And the bullet that hit her was fired by one of two Miami officers who were firing at a man involved in a fight inside the club that spilled out into the street from a side entrance.

Evelyn and her three friends had left the club minutes earlier after sensing trouble because patrons were becoming loud and aggressive, her family’s attorneys said in a lawsuit filed earlier this year against the Miami Police Department, the club and the city.

Reflecting on Valdes’ life, Garcia said her daughter was the first person in their family to go to college. Before the age of 27, she had obtained a master’s degree. Garcia said she maintains a memorial for her daughter in Wynwood, close to where she was killed.

“She was my world. She was my everything, my best friend,” Garcia said. “She didn’t deserve this. Her life just started.”

What led to gunfire on busy Wynwood street?

Security camera footage obtained by the mother’s attorneys showed the moment Norman Lindo Jr. and Santiago Hernaiz, who were part of two separate groups arguing, pop out from the entrance while pushing and shoving each other. Lindo went back inside the club, which was closed at this point, and came back outside seconds later holding a gun in his right hand, pointing it at the ground, the lawsuit states.

Two officers, Sgt. Javier Herbello and Officer Dorian Acosta, were standing outside the Electric Lady and on the right side of a parked car as the crowd was letting out and traffic slowly moved along. As Lindo and Hernaiz fought, they ended up on the left side of the car, on the street, the video shows.

An officer to the rear of the car, which the lawsuit says is Sgt. Herbello, held his gun over the roof and fired. Acosta, at the front of the car, fired over the windshield as Lindo ran by. Both officers kept shooting as they rotated left to right. The video showed Lindo collapse onto the road. He was fatally shot.

Right before the officers began shooting, the Mazda, with Evelyn and her friends inside, is seen in the video driving from behind the parked car to the front before moving out of the security camera’s view. Some of the bullets meant for Lindo hit the car, wounding Evelyn and her friend.

The club’s then manager, John Fortini, was also shot, but not by Hebello or Acosta. He was shot in the hand by an officer who was standing next to him outside the front entrance of the club, according to the lawsuit. The officer fired a shot as he unholstered his weapon while Acosta and Herbello were shooting at Lindo, according to the lawsuit. Hernaiz was not hit by any of the gunfire.