40-year-old Jorge Arias who was accidentally shot and killed during a training exercise at a Miami-Dade gun range was remembered by his heartbroken wife, Ana Mary Arias, as a “great husband” who always helped others. He was a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer.
The officer was shot on Wednesday, Oct. 19, during a demonstration by a fellow officer and later died at the hospital as more details regarding the unfortunate incident came to light on Thursday, said reports.
“He was a great guy, a great husband. He was my soulmate and my person.” Ana Mary Arias told the media, stressing the fact that he was proud of his law enforcement career.
Arias, a nine-year veteran of the agency, was a firearms instructor and was assigned to Miami International Airport, according to local reports.
According to multiple media reports, the training pistol of the officer who shot Arias was accidentally replaced with his handgun that had live rounds. But information regarding how it occurred is still unknown.
It was during a role-playing scenario that the shooting occurred. One of them was attempting to subdue a bad guy when Arias got shot, said media reports.
On Thursday, Oct. 20, authorities said a second officer was involved in the incident, but did not give more details about the shooting, said reports.
Arias was shot in the chest during building search training, according to media reports.
Ana Mary Arias said she’s been with her husband since 2013, which was the same year he joined Customs and Border Protection, according to media reports. He was also a U.S. Coast Guard reservist, she said.
Arias' wife also talked about how he was always there to help anyone who needed it and that he cared very much about his family and law enforcement.
She said, “He was always there to help everybody who needed it.”
“Everybody who needed it, family or not, and he was big on his family of law enforcement."
“He came from a small family and he always told me that he was part of a big family. It is his law enforcement family,” she added.
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