A Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office sergeant who traded gunfire with an armed man outside a neighborhood market in 2025 has been cleared by prosecutors, according to documents and video released this week. The State Attorney's Office has now put out its investigative memo, complete with body-worn camera footage, witness statements and scene photos, giving the public a fuller look at the deadly confrontation outside Davis Grocery in southwest Miami-Dade.
State attorney says shooting was legally justified
In an investigative report posted on its website, prosecutors with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office concluded that Sgt. Gilberto Crespo's use of deadly force on September 16, 2025 was legally justified. The memo states that the suspect's actions when Crespo arrived on scene "constituted a clear danger" and recommends no criminal charges. The report was added this week to the office's archive of closeout memos, where completed use-of-force cases are logged.
Body-cam captures chaotic seconds of gunfire
Body-camera video released by the sheriff's office and obtained by NBC6 shows Crespo arriving at the scene and ordering the man to show his hands. The man responds that he "didn't have any hands" and almost immediately gunfire erupts. In the footage, Crespo ducks behind a pickup truck for cover, radios "shots fired" and continues exchanging rounds until a second deputy arrives to help secure the area.
According to the NBC6 report, investigators later determined that 34 rounds were fired in total: 11 shots from the suspect and 23 from Crespo. A firearm was found on the ground next to the wounded man.
911 call, witnesses and what led up to the shooting
The confrontation started after a 911 caller reported a man waving a gun outside Davis Grocery in the 21600 block of Southwest 120th Avenue, according to the State Attorney's memo. Witnesses told investigators the man was behaving erratically, said he was "ready for anything" and made comments about his child's death, the report notes.
The man, identified as 44-year-old Jose Pineda Jr., was shot during the exchange and taken to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries. Photographs included in the investigative packet show that Crespo's patrol vehicle was struck by gunfire during the incident.
Prosecutors' conclusion and what remains unsettled
Prosecutors wrote that the combination of the 911 call, eyewitness accounts and video evidence supported a lawful use of lethal force, according to the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. In the memo, they concluded that "the reported behavior to police and Pineda Jr.'s actions upon Sergeant Crespo's arrival constituted a clear danger."
While the criminal investigation is now closed with no charges recommended, it is still unknown whether the sheriff's office will take any internal administrative action or whether Pineda's family will pursue civil legal remedies.
