SUNRISE, FLA. (WSVN) - Sunrise Police are investigating after, they said, a man shot and killed a subject in self-defense who tried to rob him in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart.
It all happened around 3:30 a.m., Wednesday morning, at a Wal-Mart located, at 3306 N. University Dr., in Sunrise.
According to officials, the man, who friends and family have identified as 28-year-old Wal-Mart employee Ervin Jones, fatally shot the subject.
Jones was sitting in his Nissan Maxima car, waiting for his 4 a.m. shift to begin, according to co-workers, when a man with a gun walked up to him. “Somebody tried to rob him, and I guess he just defended himself,” said a co-worker.
The victim, who has a concealed weapons permit, pulled out his gun and opened fire during the encounter. The subject was pronounced dead on the scene
Another co-worker, who asked to remain anonymous, described what he witnessed. “The boy came up to him. He showed him, he said, ‘You know what this is, right? Give me everything,’ so he just opened fire on him right then and there. He was shocked. I think he was just shocked that he just killed.”
“One of my co-workers was waiting in his car, to clock in, and somebody tried to rob him,” said another Wal-Mart employee. “I guess he’s just pretty much defending himself. He’s a pretty mellow guy. If you ever get to meet him and talk to him, you wouldn’t even expect him to be able to defend himself like that because he’s very quiet, friendly.”
After the incident, Jones ran inside of the Wal-Mart to get help.
Jones has only worked at Wal-Mart for a couple of months, according to relatives. His sister said when her family first heard of the incident, they thought it was Jones who had been shot and killed.
“They said it was the other person, but when I woke up and heard about it, I was crying because, I mean, my brother is all I got and my kids,” said Natshia Jones. “But I’m sorry to hear what happened to the victim, but my brother work hard, he work hard to take care of him and his child.”
Jones added that her entire family has concealed weapons permits.
7Skyforce flew over the scene, where investigators could be seen combing for clues around a white car covered with a blue tarp.
“There’s just too much going on,” said nearby resident, Brigitte. “It’s wonderful that he could protect himself, otherwise he’d be the one behind the tarp.”
7News spoke with a woman who shops at the Wal-Mart on University regularly but said because of the shooting, she will not be going back. “I come here all the time. I shop here, like daily, you know, on a daily basis sometimes, and it’s crazy because that’s the time I normally would grocery shop, three or four o’clock in the morning, and that’s when this happened,” she said. “I won’t be coming no more.”
A hazardous waste company is cleaning up the area where the shooting occurred, Wednesday evening.
Sunrise Police are still investigating and have not yet released the name of the subject.
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