MIAMI – A Miami woman was arrested on Sunday for an armed robbery at Mercy Supermarket.
According to her arrest report, on June 18, a clerk was cleaning the market, located at 6600 Biscayne Blvd., when Sheina Reyes, 36, knocked on the front door, which the clerk had locked. The clerk unlocked the door for her, and two masked burglars entered the store and pushed the clerk behind the counter, it states.
One burglar held the clerk at gunpoint while the other took money from the cash register and lottery tickets from a room in the back, according to the arrest report. The thief holding the clerk at gunpoint pistol-whipped him various times on his head, it states.
“He’s lucky he was not shot,” Asad Hossain, another clerk who works at the market, said.
Hossain conveyed his uneasiness with the incident and said that the clerk involved in the robbery has worked there for seven years and this is not his first time being a target of crime.
“I don’t want to continue working here,” he said.
Authorities said the thieves collected the money and fled the store. The clerk flagged down an onlooker who called the police, according to the report. The clerk also told police that the robbers were in the store earlier in the day, but did not take anything, it states.
The clerk was transported by Miami Fire Rescue to North Shore Hospital, because of a gash on the back of his head, where police later interviewed him, authorities said.
Footage from CCTV cameras in the area shows Reyes walking to the store followed by the two other thieves, who hid themselves in darkness next to the door while Reyes knocked, according to the arrest report.
More footage from CCTV cameras shows Reyes walking to the store earlier that day wearing different clothes with two masked and gloved individuals behind her who enter the store while she doesn’t, police said. The masked individuals quickly leave without buying anything after seeing customers inside.
Based on the surveillance footage it is clear that Reyes worked with the two unidentified individuals to help them get into the store to commit the robbery, authorities said.
Police discovered through surveillance footage that the car involved in the robbery was a gray 2006-2011 Honda Civic with a temporary tag and a BOLO was given to the city of Miami Tactical Robbery units for the car, according to the report.
A detective saw a 2008 Honda Civic with a temporary tag traveling northbound on Northwest 22nd Avenue and 50th Street on Sunday and a record check showed that the tag was not registered to the Civic, police said.
Police pulled the car over on Northwest 27th Avenue and 55th Terrace and a record check showed that the car was not registered, according to the report. The Civic was towed to Miami Auto Pound and Reyes was charged for traffic offenses and taken to the city of Miami Police Robbery Office for more questioning, it states.
Reyes made an admission to the police, however, her exact statement was omitted from the publicly-released arrest report.
Reyes faces four charges: one count of felony armed robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon, one count of felony burglary with assault or battery, one count of felony aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and one count of failure to have a vehicle registration.
As of Monday, Reyes was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center without bond.
