Vandals ransack 7-Eleven in Davie
One suspect tells cops he was ‘trippin’
DAVIE — “They going crazy in the store.Can you get somebody here please?” a panicky voice pleads with a 911 dispatcher.
It was the voice of the overnight clerk at the 7-Eleven at 8630 State Road 84 in Davie, just off Pine Island Road and Interstate 595.
The call was made shortly before 1 a.m. on May 5, and as the clerk and dispatcher continue, the store’s security surveillance system records the mayhem. Four young men, two of them shirtless, are seen on the surveillance throwing items at the clerk who had taken refuge inside the store’s office. A female is with them, but she is not seen taking part in the incident.
One member of the group, later identified by police as Damon Michael Parrotta, 18, grabs some bananas from a bin and tosses it toward the clerk. An alleged accomplice follows suit until the bananas are all gone.
It gets more serious as the vandals tip over display racks, smash computer systems and toss large containers all over the store.
One of the two shirtless vandals has a cellphone and appears to be recording himself as he walks around tossing items.
“They on camera now, they broke a window, the guy right here in front of the camera,” the clerk tells the dispatcher.
According to police, the four began wrecking the store because they believed the clerk had “said something to one of their girlfriends.”
By the time the group fled, they had caused more than $3,500 in damage to the store, a manager later estimated for police.
Investigators got a lucky break when one of the alleged vandals, Jacob Mason Jones, 18, of Sunrise, dropped his wallet — that contained his identification — at the scene. He and Parrotta, of Davie, later returned to look for it and were arrested.
Both are charged with criminal mischief over $1,000, according to their arrest reports.
Jones later told police that he went back to the store to pay for the damage the group had done and to “make things right,” his arrest report said. He told investigators that anger got the best of him and he was “trippin” during the episode.
Jones and Parrotta told police that the don’t know the other individuals who were with them as they ransacked the store.
Investigators as anyone with information about the incident, or the identities of the others involved, to call Davie police at 954-693-8200. Tips can also be made, anonymously, to Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 or online at www.browardcrimestoppers.org.