The drug store in the western part of Boca Raton which had the roof job burglary was the scene of two other incidents. The first incident would have been my call if it had occurred twenty-four hours later. It was near shift change when Officer Rickards who responded to a late night alarm call from the store. On his arrival, he advised dispatch that he was on scene and there was a broken glass near the main entry. He exited his vehicle and, with gun drawn, approached the business. As he was near the front door, he could see an individual exiting the building. Rickards approached the individual with his weapon drawn.
Rickards had called for a backup. The closest officer was coming from the police station. He, along with others, was unloading his vehicle and the oncoming shift was still in briefing. Rickards was suddenly engaged in physical confrontation. As the male from the store was attempting to elude, he went for Rickards’ weapon. Rickards, with no options at this point, fired his weapon. The male then ran around to the back side of the building in an attempt to escape, but then fell to the ground. The backup unit had arrived and found Rickards attempting to administer emergency medical assistance. The paramedics arrived and attempted to revive the male, but without success. He was dead.
Rickards was off for the next three days, but only due to his work schedule. He was cleared by the State Attorney’s office to return to work. In Palm Beach County, any shooting by a police officer requires a Grand Jury hearing. I recall Rickards telling me that “…it was the scariest moment of my life. There was a group of old people, some of whom had enough gold jewelry around their neck to give them posture problems, holding my future in their hands”. It was, however, this same group who cleared him of any wrong doing.
The only variable in the entire incident came when it was noted that Rickards had been to the shooting range earlier in the day. There was a difference in the ammunition that was used for range qualification and duty. He still had range ammo in his weapon, which did not have the same impact as regular duty rounds. It wasn’t designed for field use.
Rickards eventually left the force for another agency. I couldn’t help but notice that he wasn’t quite the same person that I had known after the incident. His humorous edge had gone. There was a soberer approach to him. It was, for me, a reality check.
The second incident was equally sobering. At briefing, we were told of a homicide which had occurred during the night at the same drug store. This one was caught on video. We sat and watched black and white security camera tape which revealed the event. There was no audio. There was no need for audio as the pictures told the story. You would see a man behind the counter where the drugs were kept. He was busy bagging whatever he could get his hands on. Suddenly, two security personnel emerged, one on each side of the man. They were separated from the man only by the counter. Neither of them was armed. Unfortunately, he was. We saw the handgun come into view. There was a jerk from the gun. The man on the left side of the screen ceased animation. He fell against the wall face first and slowly slid to the floor, almost like a melting motion. His body was relaxed in such a way that he almost bent in half, but in the wrong direction. It was quite surreal. It was obvious that he was killed instantly.
The other guard ran to get assistance, and the man behind the counter ran to his car. During the night, the shooter’s car was found out in the county. They had set up a perimeter to catch him the following morning. My sergeant enlisted me to assist him in additional coverage. We would be patrolling a given area on the street that divided city from county, ready to assist should anything come our way. Shortly after we arrived on scene, we were advised there was activity regarding the wanted driver. He had left his house, and entered his car when the welcoming committee of police and sheriff personnel overtook him and escorted him to jail. The drug store never reopened. The gunman stated that he had a very bad drug problem (as if there was a good drug problem). He was convicted. The security officer who was killed was a retired cop from New Jersey, just looking for a few extra dollars.
At one point, I was pulled off the road and assigned to an undercover operation. All who were involved in this project were brought into a room at the station. As we entered, regular James Bond protocol kicked in. We signed in and made our way to our cardboard name placard. In front of us on the desk was a folder which was sealed and could only be opened on command. When we were allowed to break the seal, were told to count all sequential pages to insure accountability of the enclosed documents.
Once that was done, we were given a page by page synopsis on the operation. We were of the understanding that this would be a coordinated drug bust, which was common in South Florida. But this operation was going to be targeting a gambling ring. The package we had contained photographs of the main players, their vehicles, their friends as well as pertinent information.
We were given an address which was our command center. We were told to avoid coming to the police station for any reason. On pay day, we had to have provisions for getting our checks. As the operation began, we reported to our rented storage space and given our assignments. There were times when we would be assigned a specific sit-and-watch detail. I recall one time when I was in a business area behind buildings watching a vehicle. A business owner, accompanied by some of his “henchmen”, approached my unmarked rented vehicle, demanding to know what I was doing. The first thing you do when you arrive on scenes like this is to create a reason why you were there. So, I had seen a large antenna in the area which was a repeater for the school district. I advised him that I worked for school security and was watching the