Ed Mireles FBI Miami Firefight Lecture

T

Tom Givens

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Tactical Lessons from the 1986 Miami FBI Shoot-Out, with Ed Mireles

Over the past 50 years there have been a number of incidents which caused the firearms training community to stop, re-evaluate and revamp training doctrine, weapons and tactics. The Newhall Incident (1970), the Bank of America hold-up in North Hollywood (1997), and Columbine (1999) caused huge changes in law enforcement equipment, tactics and procedures. However, many of those lessons are most relevant to law enforcement officers, not the armed private citizen.

On April 11, 1986, however, the FBI firefight in Miami contained numerous lessons for anyone who goes armed. The FBI Special Agents in this incident were in plain civilian clothing, riding in unmarked cars, wearing concealed handguns. Many facets of this furious gun battle parallel elements of a private citizen shooting in response to an armed robbery or car-jacking. In fact, this is the single incident with the most pertinent lessons for the armed citizen that I have found.

Retired Special Agent Ed Mireles was one of the FBI agents involved in that gun battle, and was the agent who wound up killing both of the suspects. Ed recently published a book, FBI Miami Firefight, Five Minutes That Changed the Bureau . Over the years, Mireles has many times delivered an intensive lecture on this event at law enforcement academies and conferences. We are proud to announce that Ed will be conducting this exhaustive examination of this fight for an open enrollment audience on Saturday, December 1, 2018, at the Double Tree Hotel in Tampa, Florida. The address is 4500 W. Cypress St, Tampa, FL, 33607, which is just a few minutes from Tampa International Airport. The phone is 813-879-4800. There is a special room rate for attendees. Ask for the Rangemaster Class rate.

This event will begin at 11:30am with a social hour. Ed’s lecture will run from 12:30pm to 5:30pm, followed by a book signing, finishing up at 6:30pm. Registration is only $125.00 per person.

To register, see https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ed-mireles-fbi-miami-firefight-lecture-tickets-46999765564
 
I bought two of his books, one for me, one for my 57-year-old Son.

Very well done, not quite finished it. This was a real what not to do book! Gun on the seat, not wearing vests. Snub nose 5 shot, primary weapon.

Glasses wearer, not wearing elastic sport hold on's.

The biggest lesson for me... Do not go against a couple of well-trained soldiers.
In all fairness, not a usual choice of criminals. The .223 semi-auto rifle, what a game changer.

Basically, buy the book.
 
IMO I never thought of switching from 9mm to 40 S&W but I know of a friend that did. And like many he has switched back to 9mm. Glock had phenominal marketing and market timing and was first to market a pistol in 40 S&W to cater to a perceived need.

I'm not really into books but I feel the book Glock: The Rise of America's Gun is a most interesting read and its available at the public library.
 
Thanks for the info about the seminar and the topic. I’ve heard about the incident.

It’s a reminder that one rarely knows, whether civilian, LE or civilian, when the bad guys are going to attack.







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If you haven’t listened to his podcast or caught the lecture, he does a great job of explaining how the decisions flowed into one another and a lot of “Why did they do that choices?” look a lot more reasonable when you see the whole picture.
 
Bartholomew Roberts said:
If you haven’t listened to his podcast or caught the lecture, he does a great job of explaining how the decisions flowed into one another and a lot of “Why did they do that choices?” look a lot more reasonable when you see the whole picture.
Click to expand...

Saw the podcast. Also worked with them over 2 decades.

I’ll stick by my original comment.
 
This video and lecture were part of my academy training in 1987 or so. A candid and non-sanitized view of the whole episode.

Mr. Crabby said:
It’s a reminder that one rarely knows, whether civilian, LE or civilian, when the bad guys are going to attack.
Click to expand...
Good point, but not the only lesson.

TXAZ said:
...I looked at this as a bureaucratic institutional screwup that never should have happened.
Click to expand...
It demonstrates the Agents were ready and prepared to arrest two criminals. They were not ready and prepared - mentally and emotionally at least - to engage in impromptu mortal combat and kill someone at need.

I will agree that mindset may be a product of agency assumptions and viewpoint. It is imperative to set one's own world view in place.
 
my brother in law was there as an FBI agent, and involved with the Sunnyland shooting. His take on Mr. Mireles is less than complimentary.
 
I bought Mireles' book when it came out.

A somewhat related book of interest would be the recently released book "Guns of the FBI -- a History of the Bureau's Firearms and Training" by Bill Vanderpool (FBI, retired).

The FBI began doing ballistics research as a result of this incident, not before it.

Many changes in training and equipment were instituted as a result of this gunfight.
 
Jeff,

Bill is a friend of mine, we were both members of the Board of IALEFI not spoken to him in quite a while. On a visit to the FBI Academy where he taught, I bought my first pair of 511 multi-pocketed khaki pants.
I have worn that style of pants ever since. My Wife sews a seam into the front, on the legs, looks like they have just been pressed.

He warned me to go to the Office on arrival! Knowing me. I parked, donned a ball cap, put a pencil behind my ear, grabbed a clipboard. And went a hunting... Found him!
In Hogans Alley.
 
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