Miami federal inmate’s death ‘suspicious.’ Confrontation with guards a possible cause

A Miami-Dade man accused of shooting at Everglades National Park rangers and police officers with an assault rifle has died while in custody at the Federal Detention Center, sparking an investigation into whether he may have been killed by correctional guards in some sort of confrontation, authorities said Monday.

Drew C. Sikes, who was arrested in March on a dozen charges of assaulting federal officers with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm, died on June 16, according to a Bureau of Prisons website. The site does not indicate the nature of his death.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, which was prosecuting the 37-year-old Sikes, declined to comment, referring a reporter to the Bureau of Prisons. Prison officials could not be reached for comment. Sikes’ assistant federal public defender did not respond to a request for comment.

Sikes’ death, which is considered “suspicious,” is being investigated by the Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice Office of Inspector General and other authorities. Investigators suspect his death resulted from some sort of violent confrontation with guards, not from suicide or a fight with other inmates. No details about what might have provoked a clash were provided.

Inmate deaths at the Federal Detention Center near downtown Miami are rare. Inmates detained there are usually awaiting trials or, after their convictions, are being transferred to a federal prison facility.

Sikes, formerly of Palmetto Bay, was taken into custody by park rangers and Miami-Dade police in late March after he surrendered following tense negotiations in which he encouraged them to kill him, according to an FBI criminal complaint.

“F--- yeah, come get me,” Sikes, who was carrying an AK-47, shouted at the rangers and police. “I want you guys to kill me.”

Sikes, who was in custody at the Miami Federal Detention Center, was ordered detained before trial because he was found to be a danger to the community. He was facing a minimum prison sentence of 10 years and possibly up to 20 years.

In March, Sikes was initially arrested on a felony domestic violence charge of aggravated assault with a firearm on his wife, but he was released on bail by a Miami-Dade judge with an order to stay away from her.

Sikes had been holding his wife hostage for four days, threatened to kill her and struck her in the face in the Mahogany Hammocks section of the Everglades park on the afternoon of March 28 before she got away and called the rangers to come to her rescue, the complaint says. That led to a search for Sikes, who was driving a white van, and the standoff in the Flamingo Park area.

According to the FBI complaint, both park rangers and Miami-Dade police arrived in marked vehicles to the wooded area where they believed Sikes to be and then used a loudspeaker to communicate with him. They identified themselves as law enforcement and directed Sikes to exit the woods.

At that point, the rangers and officers heard gunfire and felt rounds traveling over their heads, despite officers’ continued commands that Sikes cease fire and emerge from the woods, according to the complaint filed by federal prosecutor Manolo Reboso. After an hour of negotiations, Sikes emerged from the woods and was arrested.