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|| Agent checks out: aw ltmercate age name of Moun! Cippnrg i Space Betow) io hero’s welcome _ | 2 le A ce ee o—py- RICHARD WALLACE Herald Sic Writer 7 Ae ee ae 2 ame elie eerromeemecA fe wa. Be wheels Edmundo Mireles, FBI special agent. was very special indeed Thursday. . Mireles, whose courage under fire ended the FBI's costliest shoot-out on April Ii, went home from the hospital at midday. He could have basked in a community's grati- tude to a wounded hero. Jnstead, it was Mireles — his bullet-shat- tered left arm cradied ln « blue sling — who geve thanks. “ld like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made 1t possible for me to be here today,” Mirejes, 33, said as he paused in a wheelchair on e driveway near the emergency room at South Miaml Hospital. Smiling and with his voice holding firm and warm, the big, broad-shouldered agent spoke a scant 150 words as more than 30 reporters, photographers and broadcasters thrust microphones, pointed cameras and pressed close to him. “| want to thank ail the members of my squad, the C-1 bank robbery squad, and the yest of the FBI field office,” said Mireles, who was among five agents wounded In the ferocious Southwest Dade firefight in which Special Agents Benjamin Grogan and Gerald Dove were killed. ~ , Despite his maimed ieft arm and a wound from a bullet fragment to his forehead, Mireles had wielded his service revolver in his good right hand to fire the final barrage mend . jPale Edison. o S wEpape! oth end stisie } THE MIAMI BERALD Miam], Florida Page or April 25, 1986 Tithe Craacter 4 Getion attempt of robbers Wiliam Matix and Michael Platt, killing them both, ““=—- But on Thursday, those terrible moments of violence on a funny morning nearly two weeks earlier. “T want t thank ali local law enforce- ment officers Who responded to the scene to assist us In our time of need,” Mireles said under a cloud-puffed blue sky. “I also want to thank ail the fire rescue personnel that went out to the scene after the shooting to help us. | want to thank all the EMTs fomergency medical technicians} for thelr fine work, all the helicopter crews that responded and risked thelr Uves to help us,” he said. “] want to thank the doctors, the nurses and the staff of South Miaml Hospital,” he continued. “They're tremendous people. They did a tremendous bod, literally putting my arm back together. I can’t thank them enough. They'll always have @ place in my heart.” Smiles on the faces of the hospital personnel who stood nearby silently returned Mireles’ compliment. “l also want to thank the public,” the agent continued. “The public has been tremendous. I have recelved hundreds of letters from people and schoolchildren with thelr support and their prayers and theirwel) wishes. “And I really — personally and for the Mireles did not dwell on tng . Of the battle. His shots cut short the escape -—sinp Ones MIAMI serene Fei Di