Video at website
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-1127...530,full.story
Details of Dunkin' Donuts robberies cast suspects as 'brazen'
By Macollvie Jean-François, Sallie James, Rafael A. Olmeda and Maria Herrera | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
2:58 PM EST, November 28, 2008
Brazen armed robbers have terrorized two Dunkin' Donuts shops in as many days, shooting five innocent bystanders during hold-ups that lasted mere seconds.
One man stood facing the counter of the Dunkin' Donuts at 4900 North State Road 7 in Tamarac about 9:15 p.m. Thursday when two masked robbers stormed in.
One of the robbers shot the man in the back with a shotgun, and the victim's relatives said this afternoon that he may never walk again.
On Wednesday night, four robbers barged into the Dunkin' Donuts at 4800 W. Atlantic Ave. in Delray Beach.
One of the robbers put a shotgun to a customer's face and pulled the trigger, and two other customers also were wounded.
One of the robbers then shot a driver who flashed his high beams, police said. The victims are expected to survive.
Despite the similarities in the cases, authorities said this afternoon that it's still too soon to tell whether the crimes are related. But investigators in Broward and Palm Beach counties say they are working together to find the robbers.
"They're brazen. They're bold. They're dangerous," Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman Mike Jachles. "We want to get them off the streets."
The Sheriff's Office identified the shooting victim in the Tamarac hold-up as Kiem Huynh, 56, of Fort Lauderdale. He remains in critical condition at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.
The robbers gave no warning to Huynh and others inside the doughnut shop before one of them opened fire, investigators said.
The gunman "didn't say one word. He just came in blazing," Broward sheriff's robbery Detective Trevor Goodwin said. "He never told them to do anything."
After Huynh was shot, a second robber walked into the shop and ordered everyone people inside onto the floor, the surveillance tape shows.
Police said there were eight people in the store at the time, including customers and employees.
The robbers took a purse, some keys, and other valuables.
The second robber jumped over the counter and tried to steal from the cash register, but he couldn't get the drawer open, Goodwin said. So he jumped back over the counter and the two men ran out of the store, then disappeared heading toward the back of the building.
The robbers are believed to have fled in a light-colored, four-door vehicle.
In the Delray Beach case, surveillance video show four men dressed in black wearing masks. They are seen entering the doughnut shop on Atlantic Avenue at 10:22 p.m. Wednesday.
Two men jump the counter as employees run to the back of the store. The two others order a group of customers to the ground.
"They are going through everyone's pockets," said Delray Beach police spokesman Jeff Messer. "The victims were doing everything they were told to do."
Police said two robbers carried handguns and a third had a shotgun.
In the video, the robber carrying the shotgun is seen shooting a man in the face at close range. Then he shoots another.
After the men rifled through the customers' pockets and cleaned out the cash register, they ran out of the store.
"They started randomly shooting people who were compliant," Messer said. "This is a senseless crime."
Investigators said that as the robbers fled, a man driving a Chevy Lumina on Whatley Road flashed his high beams at the men running in the road.
One of the robbers fired at the car, hitting the man in the face through the windshield.
A fourth victim later showed up at the VA Medical Center in Riviera Beach with what police described as a shotgun pellet wound to his leg.
Police did not release the identity of the victims in the Delray Beach robbery. Two were taken to Delray Medical Center.
It's unclear what kind of ammunition the men had for the shotgun or how much money they took.
"It couldn't have been more than a couple hundred dollars," Messer said. "To have this happen on Thanksgiving eve adds to the sadness of it."
Police are offering a $5,000 reward to anyone with information that leads to an arrest in the Delray Beach case, in addition to a $1,000 reward offered by Crime Stoppers.
"Somebody knows who did this," Messer said. "The community is at risk with these guys out there."
Investigators ask anyone with information in the Delray Beach case to call the Police Department at 561-243-7800 or Crime Stoppers at 800-458-TIPS (8477). Anyone with information about the Tamarac case should call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477).
Staff writer Sofia Santana contributed to this story.
I could see 12 ga. slugs fracturing a spine with a direct hit with soft body armor. I don't know a lot about body armor, but the IBA (it was without hard plates) I was issued during my last hitch in the National Guard wouldn't cut it preventing serious blunt trauma from foster slugs. I'll agree that I'd still rather take the shot with a vest on though. 
Linear Mode
