The owner of a Jewelry store in Orlando, Florida at the Magic Mall opened fire on four armed robbers in his store on Friday, killing two of them.
According to ClickOnOrlando, four individuals, at least one of them armed, were in the midst of robbing the store when the owner opened fire striking two of them. One of the assailants died at the scene. The remaining three suspects fled according to police.
Police officers later located the vehicle with one wounded suspect. That suspect was taken to a hospital where they later died. The two remaining suspects remain at large.
WOFL-TV reported that witnesses saw the two suspects climb into a waiting SUV.
“The store owner shot at the suspects,” police said in an email to WOFL-TV. “One suspect was found deceased on scene. The three other suspects fled in a vehicle that was later found at a nearby location.”
Second scene just a block from the Magic Mall is where another suspect was found shot. OPD says three of the four suspects fled in a car. Two suspects are dead. It’s unknown if the other two are in custody. @fox35orlando pic.twitter.com/jH9NXQxfgQ
— Dave Puglisi (@DavePuglisiTV) October 14, 2022
According to WESH-TV, Customers and business owners alike at the mall were shaken by the violence. Customer Jamani Lamb saw the aftermath of the robbery and described the scene.
“Jewelry was all around him. Some jewelry was out still,” Lamb said. “People were already gone and dead by the time the cops had got here.”
“Boom! Boom! Boom! And then me and my pops jumped down and then we walk around, and we just see the people had ran,” Lamb said.
A mall vendor told reporters that he saw one of the suspects jump the counter during the robbery according to WESH-TV.
“One of them got shot. He’s dead behind the counter. The other one, they left in a car and he’s up on Tampa Avenue, he died as well. I mean, this was a robbery. And the owner had a firearm, so he defended it,” business owner Peter Lopez observed.
“Can’t just go and rob peoples’ jewelry stores. You never know what’s going to happen,” Lopez said.
Lopez told Connor Hansen of WOFL-TV, “There’s a lot of concealed licensed carriers here. So if you come to the Magic mall And you want to commit a crime? It’s a really good chance you might get shot.”
Hansen reported that many of the business owners at the Orlando, Florida mall are armed just for situations like this.
Johnny Jordan lives next door to the crime scene, he told WOFL-TV, “Sooner or later, they’re gonna get them.”
