Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Thieves shot by employee at mall
PEMBROKE PINES — Two would-be thieves started smashing jewelry cases at a mall Friday, but an employee knew how to stop them.
He pulled out a gun and shot them both.
The gunfire startled shoppers and foiled a robbery about 2 p.m. at Elite Fine Jewelry, near Dillard’s
in Pembroke Lakes Mall. Both men were taken to the hospital.
Pembroke Pines police did not identify the store employee or the thieves. They also did not say whether the men were armed, the number of times they were shot or how badly they were hurt.
The mall, at 11945 Pines Boulevard in Pembroke Pines, remained open,
though the area around the store was closed off behind police tape.
Pauline Edwards said she was shopping on the second floor of Dillard’s when employees told customers to stay put for about 10 minutes.
“After a while I went downstairs to inquire what was going on and I didn’t know there were gunshots,” she said. “We couldn’t get out through the entrance to the mall, so we came out through an entrance to the parking lot.”
Pablo Perez was almost at the opposite end of the mall near Macy’s and he heard the gunfire echoing from outside Dillard’s.
“I heard it maybe four or five times, a gun,” he said. “Then we were hiding in the Claire’s store maybe 20 or 25 minutes.”
Many of the stores in the west end of the mall were shuttered shortly after the shooting.
Police cordoned off the area with yellow tape, but shoppers were still walking around the center and east end of the mall.