Bodycam shows man fatally shot by deputies serving child porn warrant in Miami-Dade
Newly released body camera footage captured the moments when deputies opened fire on an armed man at a southwest Miami-Dade home as they were serving a search warrant related to a year-long child pornography investigation.
The man who was killed was identified as 21-year-old Christopher Barata, the brother of 25-year-old Cristian Barata, who was arrested on charges of child pornography.
According to authorities, on the morning of Dec. 2, deputies were serving a search warrant on Cristian Barata at his home on Southwest 155th Street and Southwest 102nd Court in Palmetto Estates.
In the body camera footage, deputies with the Special Response Team were seen outside the home, pounding on the door, ordering occupants of the home to come outside.
Three people then came out of the home: a man, a woman, and a woman carrying a crying child.
Inside the home, a man was seen running with a handgun on his side, and deputies immediately fired their weapons, causing the man to fall.
He was identified as Christopher Barata.
Another man inside the home, identified as Cristian Barata, was seen with his hands up, screaming, “What’s going on? What’s going on?”
MDSO said that deputies then provided aid to Christopher Barata, but he was pronounced dead at the home.
Cristian Barata was arrested and charged with 15 counts of possessing images of sexual performance by a child and 10 counts of promoting or attempting to promote sexual performance by a child, before being taken to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. His bond was set at $87,500.
Authorities have not commented on Christopher Barata’s involvement in the investigation, if any.
No deputies were hurt in the shooting.
The case against Cristian Barata
According to an arrest report for Cristian Barata, on Oct. 11, 2024, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received multiple cyber tips from an electronic service provider reporting a user for uploading video containing child sexual abuse material.
South Florida agencies, including the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) unit with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, were assigned to the tips later that month, and “through multiple legal processes, it was confirmed that the owner/user of the reported accounts to be the defendant, Cristian Barata,” authorities said.
In total, 11 cyber tips were reported to NCMEC for the same user, with the most current activity being in September of 2025, the arrest report states.
Following the shooting and arrest of her sons, NBC6 spoke to the mother, Judy Rodriguez.
Rodriguez said her sons both worked in the Transportation Security Administration.
“They killed my son… they should’ve done things differently,” she said through sobs in Spanish. “They can say what they want, but in my house, there aren’t any guns. I don’t believe it’s true. They’ll have to show me.”
Regarding Cristian, Rodriguez said he was a good boy.
“My other son, they took… I don’t know anything about [the child pornography investigation] and I don’t believe it. He’s a good boy who worked at the airport with TSA like his brother,” Barata’s mother said.
TSA released the following statement after the incident:
“The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has no tolerance for criminal behavior or misconduct on- or off-duty. The TSA employee involved has had his access to all secure areas of the airport immediately revoked and has been removed from all duties, pending the outcome of the case. TSA is fully cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has taken over the investigation, which is standard whenever there is a police-involved shooting.
