Video Shows Girlfriend Of Fallen Officer Shortly After Shooting
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – CBS4 News has obtained exclusive new information on the investigation into the death of a veteran Miami police officer.
First, there's surveillance video which shows his girlfriend, Tiniko Thompson, at a storage unit just hours after the death of 53-year-old Carl Patrick and we've obtained the search warrant which details the crime scene.
In the surveillance video taken at a Value Store It facility, Thompson, a Miami Public Service Aide, is seen trying to enter the facility at 8:45 a.m. on May 7th, the morning her attorney Rod Vereen said Patrick was shot and killed. His body wasn't discovered until Friday, May 9th.
We reached out to Thompson's attorney, Rod Vereen, for comment on Friday. While he would not get into specifics, he said neither the warrant nor the video contradicts his previous statements.
Vereen told CBS4 News that Thompson and Patrick had argued the morning of May 7th which led to the two of them scuffling over the officer's gun. He said it was Patrick who pulled the trigger and shot himself.
The Value Store It manager tells CBS4's Natalia Zea that she initially couldn't enter the facility at 8:45AM because she was delinquent on her payment for the storage unit. He says she then calmly paid the money owed and returned to the storage facility just after noon, the very same day, May 7th. That's when surveillance shows Thompson pulling into the facility's loading area in Officer Patrick's BMW with a trunk full of items.
She unloads a stroller, some bags, and a baby's crib in a box and with the help of a Value Store It employee, puts it on a dolly and wheels it upstairs.
She struggles with the items once she reaches her floor but after two trips she puts the items in the unit she's had since last October.
She then walks out, and drives off in the BMW.
The next day, May 8th, surveillance video shows she came back around 4:15 in the afternoon. She's seen talking on a cell phone, and if she dropped something off, it was small enough to fit in her pockets. She then throws something in a garbage can and leaves, again, in Officer Patrick's car. All the while police say Patrick's body was lying in his Pembroke Pines home, after he was shot to death.
The manager of the storage facility, Marcos Gonzalez helped police access her storage unit yesterday.
"They came in here, they wanted to see if she was an actual tenant here because they found a receipt inside her car. And they came here, they got a search warrant they went through the unit and got whatever they needed to get," said the Value Store It employee.
CBS4 News has exclusively obtained the search warrant affidavit which gives new details about the crime scene. It reads in part: "Upon officers making entry a black male was located in the bedroom wrapped in a bed sheet and comforter deceased. The body was completely covered except for his feet."
It also states: "A semi-automatic firearm was observed near his body, blood spatter was observed on the wall near his body as well as blood transfer on the wall." "Blood drops were observed on the bathroom floor bath mats and blood was located on the bathroom towels."
The document also states that it is believed that "Thompson is pregnant with the victim's child."
CBS4 News asked Thompson's attorney to comment about the details in the warrant, as well as what she was doing at that storage unit just hours after her boyfriend's death. He has chosen not to comment.
The manager of the storage facility doesn't know what happened that morning in the home, but he said he has seen plenty of baby items in this storage unit, along with bags of clothes. He says Thompson seemed like a "nice, humble person."
"I was shocked, I was shocked," said the Value Store It employee. "You never expect your tenant, a good tenant to get into some type of situation."
So far, police have not made any arrests in this case.
Meantime, Officer Patrick, a 25-year-veteran and member of the department's honor guard, will be laid to rest Saturday.
His viewing is Friday night and his funeral is Saturday.
Click here for more details about his viewing and burial.
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