A 27-year-old man is accused of robbing a customer at Seminole Hard Rock Casino, then fleeing from police before a shootout with multiple deputies erupted in a Margate neighborhood on Thursday afternoon, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.
Carlos Robinson, of Fort Lauderdale, was suspected in a strong-arm robbery at the casino, and Seminole Police asked BSO to help apprehend him, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Friday night.
A man had taken cash from a casino customer and fled, Seminole Tribe spokesperson Gary Bitner said in an email Friday afternoon.
Robinson drove through North Lauderdale and into Margate with BSO’s Burglary Apprehension Team and helicopters following, the Sheriff’s Office said.
By about 2:30 p.m., deputies and Robinson had entered the residential neighborhood in the 6100 block of Northwest Second Street. They ordered Robinson to get out of his car and “attempted to deescalate the situation,” but Robinson did not follow commands, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Robinson shot at them, hitting one North Lauderdale district deputy, the news release said. The deputy’s bulletproof vest “absorbed the impact,” and he was not seriously injured.
Six deputies shot back, the Sheriff’s Office said, and Robinson was hit by at least one bullet. Robinson was then detained by Margate Police’s SWAT team, and first responders treated him.
Both Robinson and the deputy were taken to a hospital. The deputy had been released by Friday afternoon. The Sheriff’s Office did not provide information on Robinson’s condition in the news release.
Robinson faces charges of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, shooting into an occupied dwelling, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and resisting arrest with violence. He also has an active arrest warrant in Palm Beach County, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The six deputies who shot at Robinson have been placed on administrative assignment as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates, as well as BSO’s Internal Affairs Unit, the news release said.
Dan Rakofsky, the president of IUPA 6020, which represents BSO’s deputies and sergeants, said in a statement Thursday night that all deputies who were at the scene are “safe.”
“We are proud of our deputies who took appropriate action against an armed subject that attempted to take the lives of our members this evening,” his statement said.
It is at least the 18th shooting involving South Florida law enforcement officers in 2025.
