Shooting In Philadelphia K-Mart Example of Potential Claim against Department Store. In Similar Case in Miami, Jury Awards $8 Million for Fatal Claim

Police are searching for a gunman who opened fire in Philadelphia department store Tuesday morning.

Authorities said a victim was shot inside the stock room of a K-Mart on the 8800 block of Frankford Avenue in Torresdale on December 1, 2008.

A Miami-Dade jury, in a factually similar case, recently found that inadequate security contributed to a fatal shooting at a North Miami Beach apartment complex.

Although investigators still don’t know who killed Starsky Garcia, a 27-year-old man shot to death in the parking lot of a North Miami Beach apartment complex almost two years ago, a Miami-Dade jury last week found someone to blame, at least in part -- the owners of the apartments where the shooting occurred.

After a weeklong civil trial in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, a jury ruled Friday that the owners and managers of The Arbors apartments should pay $8 million in damages to Garcia's family for failing to provide adequate security on the property.

Lawyers for the family argued that the property owners, New York-based Maxx Properties, had no security guards or surveillance cameras at The Arbors even as crime in the area increased.  The owners also failed to fix a fallen fence and broken security gates that allowed anyone on the property, the lawsuit said.

From 2002 to 2006, police recorded 24 burglaries, nine assaults, three shootings and two robberies at the apartment complex, located at 2375 NE 173^rd Street.  “There was a terrible pattern of violence going on,” attorney Douglas McCarron said Tuesday at a news conference.  Yet the owners “stuck their head in the sand and basically told residents they're on their own.”

Garcia’s mother, Gloria Nader, said she hoped the verdict will force more property owners to take responsibility for the safety of their tenants.  “This company didn't take care of what they needed to take care of,” she said.