Shooting at Pine Hills computer-repair store remains under investigation

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Orange County Sheriff's Office on Friday continued to investigate a shooting involving a computer-repair store manager and a teenage thief.

Deputies said a teenage boy walked into Computers 4 Less at Silver Star and North Pine Hills roads Thursday afternoon and bashed a glass display case and stole cellphones.

Investigators said the manager and thief got into a scuffle outside the store and as the suspect tried to escape, the manager shot him.

"The question is, when does the victim become the aggressor?" said WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer.

Orange County Fire Rescue received a 911 several minutes later reporting that someone with a gunshot wound was at a nearby apartment complex, deputies said.

Investigators haven't said if the two incidents are related or if the injured person is the thief.

Detectives continue to investigate both incidents.

The electronics store was open Friday. Its manager told Channel 9 that he's doing OK, but he didn't comment any further.

Customer Alice Gore stopped by the store Friday to check on the manager.

"He's just fine. He's just what you'd expect after you have something like that happen, but he's doing good," Gore said.

Gore said the manager appeared to be doing fine.

"I do business with them frequently," she said. "They're (a) very good, reputable computer-repair place. They're good people."

The Sheriff's Office hasn't said if charges will be filed.

Sheaffer said there are too many unanswered questions to say if the manager could face charges.

"At what stage was the altercation. Had it truly ended? Was the then defendant retreating? Did the defendant still have a weapon? What was in the mind of the shooter," Sheaffer asked.

Cox Media Group