Wounded Agent Credited for Slaying FBI Killers

A wounded FBI agent, Edmundo Mireles, crawled about seven yards to the getaway car of two armed robbery suspects who had gunned down two agents Friday, shot through an open window and killed both men, officials said Sunday.

Mireles, 33, was credited with stopping the suspects, who were attempting to flee in an FBI car, said an investigator, who declined to be identified.

“The bad guys thought all the agents were down, and they were getting ready to leave,” he said. “Somehow, Mireles got to the car. I don’t know how.”

The suspects and FBI agents were killed and five agents were wounded during the shoot-out Friday behind a shopping center in the suburban community of Kendall. Those killed were agents Jerry Dove, 30, and Benjamin Grogan, 53.

The suspects, William Matix, 34, and Michael L. Platt, 32, have been linked to at least a half-dozen bank and armored car robberies in Dade County in the last year, according to authorities.

No Extremist Ties

Officials have said they were investigating whether Matix and Platt had ties to extremist groups, but an FBI official said Sunday that there is no evidence linking the men to such organizations.

An official who arrived at the scene after the gun battle said Matix did the most damage, ducking and weaving among cars and trees. He said Matix emptied one 30-shot clip from his automatic rifle and reloaded another.

“It was like he was in a Vietnam-type fire fight,” one agent said. “He did a . . . lot of damage. It was like he was on a mission.”

The armed robbery charges stunned those who knew the two men, best friends since they met in Korea as military policemen, the Miami Herald reported Sunday.

The pair ran a successful landscaping business, and both were described by neighbors as loving fathers, the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III on Sunday visited three hospitalized agents: Gordon McNeill, 43, and John Hanlon, 48, who were listed in serious but stable condition, and Mireles, who is in fair condition.

“I just told them how grateful we were for their actions,” Meese said.

Agents Richard Manauzzi, 43, and Gilbert Orrantia, 27, were treated for superficial wounds and released Friday.