A Miami-Dade Sheriff’s deputy was justified in the fatal shooting an armed shoplifting suspect during an encounter at a Walmart last year that was caught on camera, prosecutors said.
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Deputy Wilfredo Ortega was legally justified in the Nov. 6, 2025 shooting of Kennedy Graham, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said in a May 26 close-out memo.
Ortega had responded to the Walmart supermarket in the area of South Dixie Highway and 211th Street after loss prevention staff saw Graham allegedly stealing from the store on security cameras.
The memo said Graham, 36, had removed a T-shirt from a rack and concealed it under his shirt.
Body camera footage released by the sheriff’s office in January showed Ortega approaching Graham from behind outside the store entrance before Graham started running.
During the scuffle, the camera is knocked off of Ortega but kept filming.
“Don’t f—ing resist, don’t f—ing resist,” Ortega is heard saying in the footage.
Officials said Ortega tried to detain Graham but surveillance video showed them wrestling on the ground outside the store in the parking garage area.
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They fought for about a minute before Graham broke free and started running, authorities said.
At that point, the bodycam footage showed Graham running with a gun in his hand as the deputy opened fire three times.
Graham collapsed nearby and was given aid at the scene before he was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. Ortega wasn’t seriously injured.
Graham’s loaded firearm was recovered at the scene, authorities said.
The memo said the shooting was investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and that prosecutors found Ortega’s actions to be legally justified.
“What should have been a simple shoplifting arrest became deadly in this case because Graham not only forcefully struggled against Deputy Ortega in front of the Walmart, but also because he armed himself with a firearm in that struggle,” the memo said. “Deputy Ortega was justified finding that Graham posed a threat not only to himself and other law enforcement officers that would respond to his call for backup, but also to the store patrons and other people in that busy commercial area.”
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