PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. -- Broward Sheriff's deputies on Thursday fatally shot a masked man who apparently was planning to make good on a threat to rob an insurance company in Pembroke Pines, according to Sheriff Scott Israel.
It happened around 3 p.m. inside the Allstate office at 1462 S. Palm Ave., he said.
"Several days ago our detectives received information from a confidential source that a suspect was considering committing an armed robbery at the business" on Thursday, Israel said. Deputies evacuated employees from all the businesses in the building and several deputies waited inside the insurance office.
"The suspect entered the business, he was wearing a ski mask [and] he was armed with a handgun," Israel said. "A series of orders were given to him by detectives who were inside the business, there was noncompliance and the suspect is deceased." None of the deputies was wounded, he said.
The suspect, a 23-year-old from Miramar, was not identified late Thursday pending notification of his family. The sheriff said not much was known about him. "We know he has a lengthy arrest record," Israel said.
Chad King, 31, was on the way home from work when he decided to stop for gas at a neighboring 7-Eleven store. He found the area surrounded by yellow police tape.
"It's always been like a nice neighborhood, but seeing stuff like this makes you think twice," he said. "I have two younger sisters at home and this is where they come to get gas too, so that's why I was concerned."
Phillip Johns, 68, has lived across Palm Avenue in the Tanglewood Estates community for 21 years.
"This is not a bad neighborhood," he said. "But hey, anything can happen."
The deputies involved were placed on standard administrative leave and will be offered counseling.
"It's a traumatic experience for a deputy, for any deputy," Israel said. "Deputies came to work wanting to enforce the laws and we're all about public safety, but I'm sure they could not imagine or envision that they would be involved in a shooting."
Copyright 2013 - Sun Sentinel
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
