Former Miami Gardens officer faces charges after gun threat, injunction breach

A former Miami Gardens police officer, Kolei McKinney, is facing multiple felony charges after authorities said he threatened a woman with a gun and violated a temporary injunction tied to a domestic violence incident in Opa-locka. The Miami Gardens Police Department relieved him of duty last week as the allegations moved from an internal personnel matter into a criminal case with implications for how police handle abuse complaints inside their own ranks.

The injunction was at the center of the case. Investigators said McKinney contacted the woman despite the court order after a July incident, a violation that turns the matter into more than a private dispute between two people. In domestic violence cases, temporary injunctions are supposed to create distance and provide a measure of safety; when a sworn officer is accused of ignoring one, the breakdown reaches straight into the system meant to enforce it.

WSVN reported that the allegations involved McKinney threatening his former girlfriend with a firearm during a domestic dispute in Opa-locka, and that the case also included allegations of strangulation. Local 10 reported that he was arrested Thursday after investigators said he threatened a woman during the incident. NBC 6 South Florida said by July 31 that McKinney was out on bond after the domestic violence arrest.

The case has intensified scrutiny because McKinney was not a rookie officer. WSVN identified him as a 14-year veteran of the Miami Gardens Police Department, and social posts described him as 41 years old and a former U.S. Navy service member. That background raises the stakes for Miami-Dade residents who have watched agencies across the county face repeated questions about how they respond when officers are accused of misconduct at home, especially in cases involving court orders and alleged intimidation.

A social post attributed to the Miami Gardens Police Department said the arrest reflected the department’s commitment to enforcing the law. McKinney, in interview snippets carried on social media, denied the allegations and said the woman had stalked him, while asking that the case be dismissed and that he be taken off suspension. For Miami Gardens and northwest Miami-Dade, the case now sits at the intersection of criminal prosecution, internal discipline and public confidence in whether officers are held to the same standards they are sworn to defend.