Check Cashing Store Clerk Killed, 2 Injured In Robbery Standoff
NEAR FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – A check cashing store clerk is dead while an innocent bystander and an armed robbery suspect are hospitalized following a shooting at a Check Cashing Store near Fort Lauderdale Tuesday.
The husband of the deceased victim, Claire Geffrard, told reporters he learned about the shooting from watching television news. He said he saw his wife's store on the news and called law enforcement.
"I spoke to one of the detectives and I gave her name and they told me, 'Yeah, she got shot. She's at the hospital," James Sainvil said.
Click here for Photo Gallery: Shooting & Standoff At Check Cashing Store
Sainvil said his wife's death comes just days before their son, Jahmir, turns one year old. Sainvil is suffering.
"If I stay (home) by myself, I'm gonna feel like killing myself," he told CBS 4's Carey Codd. "Right now, I can't even cry."
Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti told reporters that BSO deputies were called to a Check Cashing store at 2937 W. Sunrise Boulevard to check out a report of a robbery and shooting around 9:30 a.m.
When deputies arrived, there was an exchange of gunfire with the robbery suspect -- Stanley Beasley. Beasley was shot. Investigators say Beasley had a gun and a duffel bag full of money.
The store clerk was also shot along with an innocent bystander -- Jorge Aguilar, 36.
Aguilar was getting his car serviced at the Super Discount Tires store at 2868 West Sunrise Blvd, which is directly across the street from the check cashing store when he was shot. The man was outside talking on his cell phone when he was shot, CBS 4's Joan Murray reported.
Witness Charlie Mack, who was nearby, said he saw the incident unfold.
"(Beasley) was down," he said. "He was shot. He kept raising his arm and his leg kept moving so we thought he's still living."
Video from Chopper 4 showed a BSO SWAT team armored vehicle drive into the parking lot, retrieve Beasley and take him to a nearby ambulance.
It was not known whether another suspect was still inside the business so with their weapons drawn, the SWAT team stormed the building and pulled out the injured female clerk.
"Our SWAT team members have just cleared the building," Sheriff Lamberti told reporters on the scene. "They found a clerk inside who has been shot."
All three injured were transported to Broward General Medical Center. Geffrard, 25, died a few hours later of her gunshot wounds, according to BSO.
Investigators say the other two people are in critical condition.
Nearby Dillard High School, located at 2501 NW 11th Street, was placed on a precautionary lock down for the handful of staff and students from Workforce One who were on campus.
James Sainvil said he encouraged his wife to finish college and find a safer profession. It's not clear whether the suspect -- Stanley Beasley -- fired the fatal shot that killed his wife. But Sainvil believes Beasley is responsible for his wife's death.
"I think this guy wasn't a human being," Sainvil said. "He doesn't even kill my wife. He kills me too. He kills the family. Because everybody's in pain."
