When Metro-Dade police officer Evelyn Gort was buried on Tuesday – gunned down over the weekend for $3 and a set of keys – it was only the second time Dade County has had a funeral for a murdered policewoman.
And Gort’s death on Saturday bore striking similarities to the killing 11 years ago of Metro-Dade Detective Cheryl Seiden.
Both were killed while off-duty by armed robbers. Both were accosted while standing by their cars in a parking lot, fatally wounded in front of horrified friends.
“The cases are very similar,” said police spokesman Metro-Dade Detective Israel Reyes. “They were both victims of robberies and were killed when they tried to take police action.”
Seiden’s shooting death in 1982 occurred after she had dinner with two girlfriends. Seiden, 33, was standing by her car in a Kendall complex about 9 p.m. when a man tried to take her purse. Seiden fought with him and was critically wounded. She died several days later. Her killer was later convicted.
Gort was in the parking lot of a friend’s Coconut Grove apartment shortly before 1 a.m. with boyfriend Tony Calfell, 29, when a gunman came up and demanded Gort’s car keys and took $3 from Calfell, police said.
Gort pulled out her gun and shot once, hitting the robber in the stomach. He returned several shots, killing Gort, police said.
Gort, the mother of daughters Melissa, 14, and Tiffani, 7, was buried on Tuesday. As many as 5,000 friends and fellow officers – some from as far away as New York – attended the Mass at St. Brendan Catholic Church in southwest Dade.
Officers wore black tape over their police badges. Tears flowed openly as bagpipes played Amazing Grace, and Gort’s coffin was carried out of the church.
Gort, a seven-year veteran assigned to the economic crimes unit, also is survived by two sisters; her mother, Ofelia; and ex-husband Gus Gort, also a Metro-Dade police officer.
The Rev. Paul Edwards, chaplain for Metro-Dade Police Department, told Gort’s grieving relatives to be strong. “Don’t let the tragedy of this moment sink you,” he said.
Metro-Dade Commission Chairman Arthur Teele Jr. presented the Gort family with a proclamation calling Gort “a well-respected officer and a loving mother.”
Friends and co-workers who came to say goodbye were trying to cope with the loss.
“She was like a breath of fresh air,” said Metro-Police Detective Ralph Fernandez, a former partner.
“What I feel is shock, anger and disbelief,” said Metro-Dade Officer Annette Alvarez, a friend of Gort’s.
A long procession of police cruisers escorted Gort’s body to Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery, half-mile west of police headquarters.
Wilbur Leroy Mitchell, 22, who was wounded by Gort, has been charged with first-degree murder. He was arrested at Jackson Memorial Hospital were he had been driven on a motorcycle after the gunfight with the officer. Tests showed the bullet in his stomach was fired from Gort’s gun.
David James McCray, who police say drove Mitchell to the hospital, has been charged with a unrelated carjacking.
