Slain Clerk Ambushed Before Check Cashing Store Robbery
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – The Broward Sheriff's Office has released disturbing new details in the wake of a deadly robbery at a Check Cashing Store near Fort Lauderdale.
Check Cashing Store clerk Clairemathe Geffrard, 25, of Sunrise, was shot during Tuesday's robbery and died later at Broward General Medical Center.
A BSO affidavit states the robbery took place at 9:30 a.m. just as Geffrard was making a scheduled call to another Check Cashing Store employee to report that she had safely entered the business. The other employee, Yolanda Metelus, told police during the call, Geffrard was walking from her car to the store when suddenly she heard an unknown male voice say "open the (expletive) door" two times before the line disconnected. Metelus immediately called 911.
Click here for Photo Gallery: Shooting & Standoff At Check Cashing Store
At 10:00 a.m., another Check Cashing Store employee, Djefnie Perieles, received a phone call from Geffrard who told her, "Tell the police to leave, he's got a gun to my head," then the line disconnected.
Late Wednesday night, Pericles told CBS 4 that when she received the phone call she knew something was desperately wrong.
"(Geffrard) sound really, really, really scared when she called me to tell me that," Pericles said.
Detectives are working to sort out the timeline of when Geffrard was shot.
"We believe the victim was shot before -- while -- the deputies were on scene and before (Stanley) Beasley left the business," said BSO Det. Luis Rivera.
A short time later, police who had set up a perimeter around the Check Cashing Store, located at 2927 W. Sunrise Blvd., witnessed Stanley Beasley, 33, leave the store and fire his gun at them, states the affidavit.
Deputies returned fire and Beasley was wounded in the parking lot. No deputies were hurt in the gunfire. Deputies reported finding a 9mm gun near Beasley, along with a backpack containing more than $3,300 cash in bank pouches. Beasley also told deputies, "I was by myself," and "I did it myself," according to the affidavit.
A third person, bystander Jorge Aguilar, 36, was also wounded. He was shot once in the chest while outside a tire store across the street from the crime scene. Aguilar was also taken to Broward General Medical Center in critical condition. It isn't clear who shot him.
"He is doing better but we are still trying to figure out how he received his injuries exactly," said BSO Det. Luis Rivera.
Once the area outside the Check Cashing Store was secure, SWAT team members entered the business, expecting to find more suspects. They found only Geffrard inside. She was lying face down near the open store safe with a gunshot wound to the head.
Beasley was charged with five offenses: murder, armed kidnapping, armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and attempted murder on a law enforcement officer. Investigators also want to know if he is part of a notorious gang of bank robbers.
Beasley was taken to Broward General Medical Center in critical condition. The affidavit states doctors at the hospital aren't sure whether he'll survive his injuries.
Pericles reflected on the fact that she was likely the last person -- other than Beasley -- to speak with Geffrard before she was murdered.
"She was a really nice person and I don't know how that happened," Pericles said. "I can't believe she died right now."
Geffrard leaves behind a grieving mother, husband and a son, Jahmir, who is only days away from celebrating his first birthday.
