Gang member shot dead in mall

The dead man's blood left stains in the tile grout.
SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. -- A chance meeting between feuding gang members doing Christmas Eve shopping led to a 23-year-old man's getting shot about six times next to the children's space ship ride at Boynton Beach Mall, police said Tuesday.
Berno Charlemond died on the mall floor just moments after getting into a midday fight with Jesse Cesar, 21, and Fregens Daniel, 21, and other men in a shoe store, police said.
Daniel put Charlemond in a bear hug, slammed him to the ground, and, with Cesar's help, punched him in front of Charlemond's girlfriend, her children and hundreds of shoppers, Charlemond's girlfriend told police.
Cesar then allegedly shot Charlemond and ran from the length of the mall, firing at officers three times, police said. The SWAT team arrested him in the middle of Dillard's women's store, where he had barricaded himself.
"This was gang warfare," Boynton Beach Police Chief Matt Immler said. "These were people looking to settle the score between each other." When they spotted each other, "they decided this was the place to settle their disagreements," he said.
Shoppers return
The deadly shooting didn't stop the steady flow of shoppers from returning to the mall Tuesday, although parking spaces were easily found on the typically busy bargain-shopping day. The mall was evacuated Sunday after the shooting and was scheduled to be closed Christmas.
"It happened once, it may never happen again," said shopper Martha Truchon, a seasonal Boynton Beach resident. "I always refuse to be part of a certain fear. I feel only sorry for the people who would be scared to come out."
Charlemond's blood had been scrubbed from the beige tiles in front of the Easy Spirit shoe store, but it stained the grout. On Tuesday, not far from where the scuffle escalated to a shooting, about 20 children squealed and clung onto a red-and-white-striped lighthouse in an enclosed play area.
Ana Perez, a tourist from Venezuela, watched as her 3-year-old daughter played and was surprised to learn that someone had been shot just steps from there Christmas Eve.
Had she known of the violence, she said, "No, of course not, I wouldn't have come."
Almost 20 Boynton Beach police officers and detectives canvassed the scene for more witnesses. Officers on high alert stopped a man wearing a T-shirt memorializing a dead rapper, suspected of being a Latin Kings gang member. But it was a false alarm, said Officer Widy Jean, who later questioned a teen who wore an "R.I.P." T-shirt in memory of Charlemond.
Despite the heavy police presence, Immler said, the roughly 10 officers assigned to patrol the mall and its parking lot and neighboring strip malls at this time of year will remain in place. He said his officers' handing of the Sunday's shooting was by the book.
"Our officers' initial reaction was to draw their weapons and return fire. But when they realized that there were too many people in the mall, they holstered up. They did what they were trained to do, which was to run directly at the threat," he said.