2 teens arrested in Fort Lauderdale store heist, shooting

By Alexia Campbell and Joel Marino | Sun-Sentinel.com

4:18 PM EDT, July 28, 2008

An armed robbery occurred on July 23, 2008 at approximately 10:47 P.M. The robbery took place at 201 Northwest 6 Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the VIP 6 Street Market. At some point during the robbery, the subjects discharged their firearms striking two individuals. The males proceeded to take money from the cash register. The suspects fled from the store in an older model gray Astrovan. (Fort Lauderdale Police Department / July 23, 2008)

FORT LAUDERDALE - Police have arrested two 14-year-old boys suspected of storming a convenience store, shooting two people and taking off with fistfuls of cash.

The boys were arrested Saturday morning and charged with armed robbery and attempted murder, police spokesman Sgt. Frank Sousa said today.

They confessed to their roles in the robbery that happened shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday at the VIP 6 Street Market at 201 NW Sixth St., Sousa said.

Police say the two walked into the store and yelled for everyone to get on the floor.

Both wore bandannas over their mouths and brandished handguns, authorities say.

Photos taken from the store's surveillance cameras show one teen push a customer against a wall. The robber then points a gun at the man's neck but doesn't fire.

The youths told store clerk Ziad Shehadeh, 48, to hand them money from the cash register, police said.

Police say the pair fired their guns during the robbery, hitting Shehadeh and Rodney Hollman, 42.

Shehadeh and Hollman were taken to Broward General Medical Center with minor injuries, police said.

Shehadeh was treated and released, according to hospital officials. The hospital did not have any record of Hollman being treated.

The robbers took cash from the register and fled the store in an older model gray Chevy Astro, police said.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is not identifying the suspects because of their ages.