A confrontation took a sharp turn in Lauderhill after, police said, a woman pulled out a knife to fend off a would-be thief. The man suspected of trying to steal the woman’s purse was hospitalized after being stabbed during the ordeal.
The woman, Robinette Varnidae, said she was leaving an area ATM, at around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, when she first noticed a suspicious man was following her home.
“He see me coming from the ATM, so he tried to follow me home and enter into my apartment,” she said.
Her nephew, JR Slim, said he saw them coming down the street arguing.
“Some random guy attacked my auntie. I kind of like just followed them down the street, and they were having an argument,” he said, “and basically I had to break them up.”
Varnidae said the suspect forced his way into her Lauderhill apartment, located along the 4300 block of Northwest 21st Street, and tried to snatch her purse, phone and money.
“Tried to rob her purse,” said Slim.
“I think he smashed the door open, he smashed the door like twice trying to get in,” said Varnidae.
Varnidae said she grabbed the first thing she saw.
“I had the knife, it was on the table, because we were on the inside,” she said.
However, Varnidae said, the man kept coming for her.
After tussling with the man inside her apartment, the altercation continued out in the courtyard.
Bystanders, including Varnidae’s nephew, tried to intervene but did not want to be caught in the middle.
“They broke it up again, and that’s when I went to swing and cutting him with the knife, and he left,” said Varnidae.
Cellphone video captured a portion of the standoff. The man, whose arm was now covered in blood, was seen lunging at Varnidae. Varnidae raised the knife in her hand, and the man backed away. Varnidae also walked off.
After receiving reports about the fight, Lauderhill Police arrived at the scene where, they said, Varnidae told them about the incident and that she used the knife in self-defense.
By the time police arrived, the suspect had already fled the scene, but he was located over an hour later after he knocked on a neighbor’s door along the 4500 block of Northwest 26th Street, all bloodied, and the neighbor called 911.
Officers located the suspect, tooh him into custody and transported him to Broward Health Medical Center to have his injuries treated. He is currently listed in stable condition.
“He didn’t get anything. I can’t believe there’s people out there that would try to hurt old people, older folks like that,” said Slim. “They have, like, no heart.”
Thursday night, police identified the suspect as 29-year-old Ferroid Elijah Thomas. He faces a charge of burglary with battery.
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Source: wsvn
