NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick. A masked robber was shot and killed just before 10:15 this morning by a security guard at the Medicine Shoppe, 653 N. Dixie Freeway.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A masked robber was shot and killed this morning by a security guard just before 10:15 at the Medicine Shoppe, at 653 N. Dixie Freeway, after he stuck a gun in the face of the pharmacist and demanded drugs, New Smyrna Beach police confirmed.
"Dispatch received a 9-1-1 call of shots fired," police spokesman Sgt. Mike Brouillette said. "A white male wearing a mask pointed a gun at the pharmacist and demanded drugs."
Brouilette declined to say what type of drugs were involved.
After pointing the gun the security guard fired on shot, striking the robber in the chest area.
Police arrived at the scene at 10:16 a.m. and were being assisted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
This was the third time in three years, this particular pharmacy was robbed, according to police reports.
Brouillette later released a press release, which stated in part: "At 1016 hours, New Smyrna Beach Police responded to the “Medicine Shoppe”, 653 N. Dixie Freeway after receiving a 911 call in reference to an armed robbery with shots fired. Upon arrival, Officers secured the crime scene and their initial investigation revealed that an unidentified white male suspect entered the pharmacy wearing a mask, pulled out a gun and demanded drugs from the on duty pharmacist. Immediately thereafter, an armed security guard, employed by the pharmacy, took action and shot the armed suspect. Attempts to revive the suspect were unsuccessful. The identity of the suspect is not known at this time. The identity of the security guard will be released subsequent to additional investigation. The New Smyrna Beach Police Department, the 7th Judicial Circuit Homicide Investigative Unit (HIU) and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) are investigating the shooting. The 'Medicine Shoppe' was previously robbed on two other occasions, once on May 4, 2006 and again on April 3, 2007."
Police remained at the scene well into the afternoon and several other businesses in the small plaza on the east side of U.S. closed up shop shortly after the shooting.
The fatal shooting is the latest in a series of crimes that have plagued New Smyrna Beach in the last few weeks, including an armed carjacking of two teen girls, an armed robbery of a store, two teens involved in a high-spred chase with police in a stolen SUV, an earlier armed robbery of a pharmacy in a food store, a man beaten with a sawed-off shotgun during a robbery attempt and a man charged with breaking into a bunch of cars.