The Miami-Dade police officers who were struck and injured during a shootout at a South Miami-Dade home last week tried talking the suspected gunman into surrendering as he had his shotgun pointed directly at them for several seconds, according to law enforcement sources.

The officers were close enough that one of them was able to see the shaft of weapon as the gunman hid behind a wall. Another officer, the sources said, had a clear shot, but held back from firing until fired upon. After repeated orders to lower his weapon, the gunman shot officers Mario Bianchi, 57 and Nikolas Infante, 35, the sources said.

South Florida Police Benevolent Association President Steadman Stahl blamed the delay in police discharging their weapons on new training methods.

“There was a time that when you saw the gun, you’d begin shooting. Now officers are trained to try and de-escalate. It’s causing me concern that officers are taking the time to second-guess themselves,” Stahl said. “No officer wants to take someone’s life. Clearly, he gave them no choice and started firing away at them.”

Suspected gunman Christopher Lynn Bailey, 52, was shot and killed on site. The officers were struck in the arm and upper body with quarter-inch round balls of buckshot, larger than pellets. Infante was released after a short hospital stay. But Bianchi, sources said, remains hospitalized as a piece of the buckshot is lodged near an artery in his upper body.

“He’s in great spirits. He was hoping to get out but suffered a medical setback,” Stahl said, adding that the officers’ protective vests likely saved them from more harm, even death. A female officer on the scene was also taken to the hospital for observation after the shooting. It’s not believed she was shot.

Suspected gunman had history of squatting

Almost a week after the shooting, it’s still not clear which officers fired at Bailey, a suspected squatter with convictions about two decades ago for aggravated assault on a pregnant woman and a gun violation charge.

Police said the fatal standoff with Bailey was during an attempt to remove the “squatter” from the property. It also came just a month after he was evicted from a Hialeah apartment in which the landlord said Bailey “forcibly and unlawfully” entered the apartment after being told to leave.

In late September, Bailey was accused of refusing to leave a unit at Les Monttellier Apartments, 850 West 49th Street, after the person paying the rent died. The complaint to remove Bailey said he told Gator Hialeah, which owns the apartment complex, that he was the only caretaker for the renter. But since he wasn’t on the lease, a judge ordered him evicted.

He stayed there for three months until Miami-Dade police removed him on Dec. 20, court records show. A spokesperson for Gator Hialeah said when police arrived, Bailey walked out calmly.

Shooting sparked during attempted removal of squatter

Police said that on Jan. 17, the day Bailey was killed, they were called by the property owner at 22291 SW 162nd Ave. just before 11 p.m. The caller was concerned with squatters who had taken over his property. Police found Bailey in a small apartment off to the side of the main house on the property.

A radio transmission from a website called Broadcastify, which picks up police dispatch conversations, said one of the cops said, “The squatter was armed with a shotgun pointing at us.” After the shooting, another team of officers was requested to help get the injured out of the home.

“I need a contact team to stand by… with their helmets and a shield if they have it,” an officer told dispatch. “We are going to go in as a convoy to rescue them.” Then, an officer is heard saying, “Get the three officers in a car and take them to the hospital right now.”

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.