PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – A 33-year-old GameStop employee in Pembroke Pines has been arrested following Tuesday night’s shooting inside the store, authorities confirmed Wednesday morning.
According to authorities, officers responded to the store, located at 11069 Pines Blvd., at approximately 8:16 p.m. Tuesday.
“The victim initially entered the GameStop and was in the store for about an hour,” Pembroke Pines police Maj. Al Xiques said.
Police said the man asked the employee, Derrick Guerrero, to get him some merchandise from the back of the store.
“When the manager went to retrieve that merchandise, the victim went behind the front counter of the business to shoplift some merchandise and leave the store with that merchandise,” Xiques said.
The man then ran toward the store’s front door with the merchandise when Guerrero grabbed a gun from his waistband and fired a single shot, striking the victim in the torso, authorities said.
“The victim was shot and subsequently ran into a vehicle that was awaiting, which was being driven by his girlfriend,” Xiques said.
As that woman was driving off, she noticed her boyfriend was unresponsive so she stopped within the plaza and called police.
The victim was then taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, however he later died from his injuries.
“It should be noted that this GameStop was robbed on September 11th of this year by two other suspects unrelated to this case, which the suspect in this case of the shooting was the victim of that robbery,” Xiques said. “Since that incident, the suspect did go out and purchase a firearm for his own personal protection and safety, which was the firearm used in this incident.”
Police said the victim never threatened Guerrero during the incident nor did he display any weapon.
Guerrero has since been arrested on a manslaughter charge.
The victim’s identity has not yet been released.
Local 10 News has learned that Guerrero is a married father of two young girls. He served in the Marine Corps for 10 years and has no prior arrests.
As of Wednesday evening, Guerrero was being held at the Broward County Main Jail. He has posted a $25,000 bond and will be fitted for a GPS monitoring device and be forced to surrender any firearms he owns upon his release.