CSI: Miami

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Shootout

Teleplay by Corey Miller & Sunil Nayar
Directed by Norberto Barba

The Emergency Room of Dade Memorial Hospital is busier than ever. Betty Rockingham, car accident victim in cardiac arrest, is placed in Bay Four. Pamela Warren holds an infant, Bethany, in her arms. 19 year-old Calvin Joyner clutches his abdomen in pain. Soon, 17 year-old Hector Del Rio enters the main doors of the ER and raises a gun. A pregnant woman’s husband drops his video camera and shields his wife’s swollen belly with his body. Pointing at Calvin, Hector says “This is for the East Side” and, before he can shoot, Calvin draws a 9mm handgun and the entire E.R. erupts in chaos.

Horatio and Yelina lead the on-site investigation, presiding over the dead bodies of both Calvin and Hector. Hector’s tattoos indicate this was a gang shooting. Horatio is angry that their war was brought into his world, and he vows to take his war to theirs.

While interviewing Pamela Warren as a witness, Ryan notices possible bruising under her infant’s eyes, which concerns him. Calleigh can’t find a corresponding bullet strike for Calvin Joyner’s exit wound, which concerns her. And Horatio uses a cell phone found on Hector’s body to find out who alerted him to Calvin’s presence in the E.R. – an orderly there named Ramon Morales whom Tripp has been arresting since childhood. Morales admits to putting out the call on Joyner because Joyner “killed Primero,” leader of the East Side Hermanos, one of Miami’s toughest gangs.

Ryan requests a complete workup on Pamela Warren’s baby after Nurse Mills agrees with his concerns for the child. Calleigh meets Alexx at the autopsy theater, still puzzled by the bullet trajectories. Hector’s is consistent with being shot by Calvin, from the gurney, but Calvin’s is still a mystery. Also, Alexx reveals another bullet which Calvin had prior to arriving at the E.R. that day. Calleigh and Delko work at the E.R. with lasers and dummies to attempt to recreate the shooters’ lines of fire. After much work and surprising results, they discover that Hector’s bullet ricocheted off the x-ray equipment and back out the door of the E.R., meaning that Calvin was killed by a second shooter, who is still out there.

Delko examines the rear ambulance bay of the E.R. and finds fresh tire treads and a piece of metal from tricked-out tire rims. The makeup of this particular metal leads them to Eddie’s Dubs, owned by Eddie Davids. Eddie reluctantly names Jesse Navedo as the customer who bought those rims. Jesse admits that he was at Miami Dade the night before to drop off a young girl with whom he was partying and who OD’d, but nothing more.

Horatio remembers the pregnant couple from the E.R., and dispatches Calleigh to check on their videotape from the crime scene. The video is no help, but the microphone caught everything, including the final shot, the distant sound of a car revving and screeching off and a metal crunch. They obtain the getaway car, which is hauled in for further inspection. The floor of the car reveals a safe containing a 9mm handgun, along with moist sunflower seeds, indicating that the passenger was eating those the night before. DNA testing on the seeds points to Rico Dominguez, who cops to the murder, proud that he avenged Primero’s death when the police did nothing. He faces off with Horatio, charging that Miami’s Finest don’t care about his people. Caine begs to differ.

The old bullet extracted from Joyner is traced to a gun from a gang sweep belonging to Ramon Morales. Horatio informs Morales that he shot the wrong guy to avenge Primero’s death because Joyner was in jail the night Primero was killed, gunned down in his front yard. His widow was found beaten unconscious in the bedroom the night of his murder, while his five year-old daughter supposedly witnessed his shooting. Horatio and Tripp visit Primero’s house, where they find Jesse Navedo, whom they arrest for the felony murder at the hospital. Navedo explains that he has stepped up to take Primero’s place with Ana Garcia, Primero’s widow.

Horatio and Tripp interview Ana, who claims that Primero beat her the night of his murder because dinner wasn’t ready on time. They don’t buy it. Carmen, their little girl, says that she only remembers seeing “fire” the night her father was shot. Ana hands over to Tripp her husband’s gun, which, upon testing, turns out to be his own murder weapon.

Ryan Wolfe has found fibers from Pamela’s Warren’s baby’s blanket in the infant’s mouth, indicating a possible suffocation attempt. And while swabbing Pamela’s leg wound, he got a DNA sample which proves that the baby actually isn’t hers. Pamela admits that she is the baby’s nanny, and that she only took the child because the infant’s emotional needs were completely ignored by her parents. She had covered her mouth tightly with the blanket to muffle her cries while escaping the house, thus the semblance of suffocation. She swears she meant no harm.

Ana’s provocative clothing in the photos taken the night of the murder tell Horatio that perhaps something was going on the night Primero was killed that she hasn’t yet told them. He and Calleigh confront her, but she won’t budge on her story. Nor will Navedo budge on his; he swears that he did not kill Primero, his gang’s leader.

Upon further examination of the Garcia bedroom, Delko discovers some sort of tool mark chipped into the bedpost, and makes a cast of the image. Working together, Delko and Calleigh find a match for the image that is imbedded into the wooden post – a skull with wings leaping from it -- the logo of Eddie’s Dubs. Soon, Eddie Davids, owner, is being interrogated by Horatio, who informs him that the logo impression from his belt buckle was found on Ana Garcia’s bedpost, putting him at the scene of Primero’s murder. Horatio fills in the rest of the picture for Eddie – Davids made a house call to work on Primero’s car that day and he and Ana began fooling around in bed. Primero came home and Ana stalled him while Davids got dressed, forgetting his belt in the process, and slipped out the window. Seeing Davids’ belt, Primero went berserk, grabbing the belt and whipping it through the air, hitting the bedpost. Later, Davids shot Primero in front of the house, the “fire” tattoo on his chest making him completely memorable to the eye witness who took it all in … Primero’s five year-old daughter, Carmen. Knowing he’s done for, Davids gives in.

Ryan watches as Bethany is reunited with her mother, who is every bit as cool, detached and dispassionate as Pamela Warren had indicated. Seeing this, he calls on Horatio for a favor. Soon, Pamela is released with no charges to be pressed, while Bethany’s parents face weekly visits from Child Services.