Fort Lauderdale Police

Shooting victim: 'Tell police to leave. He has a gun to my head'

As she arrived at her job at The Check Cashing Store, Clairemathe Geffrard made one phone call to a coworker.

It was the signal to let everyone know she was safely inside the store.

But what co-worker Yolanda Metelus heard shortly before 9:30 a.m. Tuesday when she answered the call was the voice of a unknown male.

“Open the f---ing door,” the man barked, twice. The line went dead.

Metelus called 911 when Geffrard didn’t pick up.

New details were released Wednesday about the violent armed robbery that left Geffrard dead from a gunshot and the suspected shooter hospitalized with bullet wounds from deputies.

“Clairemathe Geffrard, a 25-year-old mother of a 1-year-old, who was just trying to make an honest living, working to take care of her family, went to work every morning like all of us do,” Sheriff Al Lamberti said Wednesday. “Unfortunately some hoodlum decided to ruin her life.”

BSO deputies and SWAT members quickly arrived at the store at 2927 W. Sunrise Blvd., a busy commercial strip just west of Fort Lauderdale, and surrounded it.

They quickly shut down Sunrise Boulevard during rush hour.

Investigators said Wednesday 33-year-old Stanley Beasley, a convicted felon with a long rap sheet was inside with Geffrard. They believe he followed her in from the parking lot as she walked from her car to the business.

At 10 a.m., Geffrard called co-worker Djefnie Pericles.

“Tell the police to leave, he’s got a gun to my head,” Geffrard said, according to the affidavit. She hung up.

Pericles tried to call back, but there was no answer.

Investigators said Beasley, of Lauderhill, shot Geffrard in the head, execution style, then ran out the front door, carrying a backpack and firing at deputies.

Five deputies returned fire, according to the affidavit, striking Beasley, who collapsed in the parking lot. His backpack was stuffed with more than $3,300, the affidavit said. A 9 mm firearm was near his right hand.

A SWAT team member found Geffrard face down on the floor, near the open store safe.

Also hurt in the gunfire was Jorge Aguilar, 36, who Lamberti described as an innocent bystander. He was across the street at a tire shop when a bullet struck him in the chest.

On Wednesday, Aguilar remained at Broward General Medical Center.

Geffrard’s husband told WSVN-Fox 7 that she had only been there for a few months and didn’t feel safe but stayed.

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