May 23, 2009 11:50 pm US/Eastern
Coral Springs Police Officer Shot, Suspects Caught
Police Have Arrested Three Men
Coral Springs Drive South Of Royal Palm Boulevard Remains Closed
CORAL SPRINGS (CBS4) ―
An armed robber shot a Coral Springs police officer on Saturday evening as the officer tried to arrest him, said Coral Springs Police Sergeant Robert Behan.
The officer was chasing the suspects and was about to get out of his police car when he was shot near the 10400 block of Ramblewood Drive.
The injured officer was transported to North Broward Medical Center and sources tell CBS4 that he's expected to survive. Police did not release his name. They did say the officer was wearing a bullet proof vest, but a shot penetrated it.
Some of the three men might have been armed with AK-47s when they attempted to rob an Advanced Auto Parts on the 300 block of N. University Drive at around 6:45 p.m., Behan told CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald.
As of 10 p.m., all three men were in police custody. They had been hiding out in a nearby home where they held a mother and her two children -- a boy and a girl -- hostage, sources told
CBS4's Joan Murray.
A wife of one of the suspects rushed to the scene to help resolve the hostage situation.
By 11 p.m., police were still not allowing residents return to their home and a police helicopter continued to buzz overhead. Police wanted to make sure there were no hidden suspects.
Police had been on a manhunt and had shut down about a square mile around the Maplewood Isle neighborhood around Coral Springs Drive and Ramblewood Drive.
Richard Cohen who lives across the street heard the gunshots.
"I walked out of my house and I heard gunshots," he said. "It was pow, pow, pow from across the street."
Jackie Monforte, lives in Maplewood Isle and said she saw one of the suspects being handcuffed on the ground.
"I was scared because I have children," Monforte said.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
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