Yesterday morning, a vacation NYC police officer was shot in the courtyard of a boutique hotel in Miami Beach. Police believe the NYPD cop and the gunman (or gunmen) traded at least a dozen shots. A neighbor said, "I was sleeping and then all of a sudden I just heared like six or seven rounds in a row... I thought it was firecrackers, because they just went 'pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop.' And then it stopped, and then you heard 'pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop.'...And then you didn't hear anything."
The Post identifies the cop as a "veteran" detective on the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Harold Thomas, who said he was being robbed: "Thomas was set upon by several assailants at 7 a.m. outside 1233 Lofts, a boutique hotel/condo complex... He told local cops he returned fire and believed he hit at least one attacker, a police source said."
Thomas, described as being "critically" wounded in the Daily News, underwent hours of surgery and his current condition is not known. Another guest at the 1233 Lofts told a local TV station, "I heard the first two [gunshots], then after that, it was just non-stop. I know it was at least 10 or 12... I thought [Thomas] was dead, actually. He had to stop breathing for a minute, because his eyes were gone, and then I looked at him for maybe 15, 20 minutes, and his eyes came back."
Police believe that Thomas was the victim in the incident and are still investigating. The 1233 Lofts is located in trendy South Beach, a block from the beach.
