Clerk killed, 2 wounded at Fla. check-cash store

MIAMI – A clerk at a South Florida check-cashing store was shot and killed Tuesday and two other people were wounded during a robbery.

A SWAT team eventually stormed the store in unincorporated Broward County near Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday morning. Clairemathe Geffrard, 25, died at a hospital several hours after being shot.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright said within the first few minutes, officers contacted the clerk by phone. The woman told authorities she was OK and didn't need help, but investigators believe she was told to say that by a suspect.

Stanley Beasley, 33, was outside the store when deputies came and he opened fire, the sheriff's office reported. Deputies returned fire, and Beasley was wounded in the parking lot. Deputies reported finding a weapon on Beasley, along with a duffel bag containing money.

Bystander Jorge Aguilar, 36, was also wounded. He had been near a tire store across the street from the crime scene. It wasn't clear who shot him.

Once the area outside was secure, SWAT team members entered the business, expecting to find more suspects. They found only Geffrard inside.

Coleman-Wright said she's heard of no connection between the shootings and the fugitive siblings on the run following a crime spree in Florida and Georgia. Those suspects are accused of shooting at a police officer and robbing a bank. A nationwide manhunt for them continued Tuesday.

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