Similar Shooting In Philadelphia K-Mart Example of Potential Claim against Department Store
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 at about 9:30 a.m. In a similar case in Miami, Florida, a jury found that inadequate security contributed to a fatal shooting at a North Miami Beach apartment complex.
BY SCOTT HIAASEN of the Miami Herald reported this story:
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. But 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 173rd Street. “There was a terrible pattern of violence going on,â€� 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.â€�
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,â€� she said. Maxx Properties denied wrongdoing in the lawsuit. The company would not say Tuesday whether it planned to appeal the verdict.
“We join Starsky Garcia’s family in mourning his death. We regret that the police have not yet identified the criminal who senselessly took his life,â€� the company said in a written statement.
“We disagree with the court’s findings of civil liability in this matter. Our attorneys are reviewing that decision.â€�
ANOTHER SLAYING
After visiting a friend at the complex, Garcia was found dead in The Arbors parking lot at about 4:30 a.m. Dec. 9, 2006. Less than 16 hours later — and less than half a mile away — Broward County chiropractor Bradley Timpf was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Houston’s restaurant on Biscayne Boulevard. Timpf’s murder also is unsolved.
Garcia’s family and the attorneys called the news conference Tuesday in part to raise awareness about the two crimes. “They are absolutely, 100 percent devoted to finding the people that killed their sons,â€� McCarron said. Police have not said whether they have any evidence linking the two shootings.
McCarron’s firm, the Haggard Law Firm of Coral Gables, also represented the Timpf family in a lawsuit alleging that Houston’s also had insufficient security on the night Timpf died. The Timpfs reached an out-of-court settlement in September with the parent company of Houston’s, the Hillstone Restaurant Group, for an undisclosed sum.
