Miami, Feb. 27, 2019- Miami Dade College’s (MDC) School of Justice, Public Safety and Law Studies will host retired FBI Special Agent Ed Mireles, Wednesday, March 6, at 10 a.m., at MDC’s North Campus. He will recount his experience as a hero and survivor of the infamous FBI Miami 1986 gunfight between agents and two bank robbers.
On April 11, 1986, FBI agents of the Miami Bank Robbery Squad engaged robbers and murderers, Michael Platt and William Matix, in a gun battle that left four men dead and five others wounded. The shootout was a catalyst for change within the FBI and law enforcement at large, with regards to training, tactics and gear selection – particularly firearms, ammunition and defensive measures such as body armor. Despite being seriously wounded, Mireles definitively ended the violent encounter. He will recount his experience on that fateful day, reveals the events that led to the shootout and discusses some of the enduring repercussions.
Mireles served as a Marine Security Guard at the U.S. Embassy’s in Sophia, Bulgaria, Reykjavik, Iceland, Brussels, Belgium and Madrid. After graduating from the University of Maryland in 1979, he was accepted in the FBI. He is a 25-year veteran of the FBI with experience as an FBI Street Agent, Supervisor and Manager in a wide range of investigative and administrative areas, as well as extensive Undercover (UC) work. Mireles served as the primary Undercover Agent in hundreds of high-level, high risk Narcotics, criminal and National Security investigations. He is a recipient of the Department of Justice – U.S. Attorney General’s Award for Valor, the J. Edgar Hoover Award, and the FBI Medal of Valor. He is the author of FBI Miami Firefight and Five Minutes That Changed the Bureau.
About MDC’s School of Justice, Public Safety and Law Studies
MDC’s renowned School of Justice has been training and educating public safety professionals for nearly 42 years, domestically and internationally. More than 80 percent of all public safety professionals in Miami-Dade County have been trained at the School of Justice. The school offers a bachelor’s in applied science degree in public safety management with seven specialized tracks, associate degrees in criminal justice, college credit certificates in homeland security and crime scene technology, certifications in basic law enforcement, corrections and firefighter, and private security, and specialized executive leadership training and assessment services.
For additional information, contact Elizabeth Lugo-Martinez, at elugomar@mdc.edu