FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - What started as a fight between two men at a gas station in Fort Lauderdale escalated into gun violence, sending one of them to the hospital, police and witnesses said.
Fort Lauderdale Police and Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene at a Marathon gas station in the area of Southwest 15th Avenue and State Road 84 at around 10 a.m., Thursday.
“This was an apparent altercation that occurred outside the gas station, near one of the gas pumps,” said Fort Lauderdale Police spokesperson DeAnna Greenlaw.
Employee Myrna Rodriguez said she witnessed the ordeal as it unfolded.
“It was scary, very scary,” she said.
Rodriguez said she saw a white van pull into the gas station, and then another man came out of nowhere and approached the driver.
“I recall one of my co-workers screamed, ‘Oh, my God! There’s a fight, there’s a fight!'” she said.
Rodriguez said her co-worker locked the door to the convenience store, and that’s when things escalated.
“He runs over here, tries to get help. He’s knocking on the door. [My co-worker] locked the door, and she said, ‘No,'” she said. “[The other man] came here. He beat up [the victim] here. He was going to walk away, and then he came back, and then they started shooting.”
“At some time during this verbal altercation, the suspect produced a firearm and then shot the victim,” said Greenlaw.
“What I heard, it just sounded like three pieces of wood just hitting the ground,” said witness Kyle Baylor, “like, it wasn’t a loud gunshot, like a typical one you would hear.”
“We heard like three or four shots, fast — one, two, three — in a matter of seconds,” said Rodriguez.
Witnesses said the gunman ran away.
“He was running very fast, and I guess he hopped over the fence over there and just kept running,” said Ben Krahn. “A few minutes later, we found out that someone had gotten shot, and police were everywhere, guys with machine guns.”
Rescue crews transported the victim to Broward Health Medical Center as a trauma alert. As of Thursday afternoon, his condition remains unknown.
“He got shot in the back. He got shot in the side of the head, because when they picked him up, we saw him. He was all [covered] with blood,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez said the outcome could have been a lot worse.
“Imagine if my other co-worker would not have closed the door. The guy would have come inside, the one who was being attacked, and [the other] guy would have come inside and started shooting,” she said, “and there were other people here. There were employees and families of employees as well.”
It remains unclear whether the altercation stemmed from an attempted robbery or whether the men knew each other. The shooter remains at large.
If you have any information on this shooting or the gunman’s whereabouts, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $3,000 reward.
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