NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Nassau County Police arrested Nicholas Hibbert on Thursday after he allegedly opened fire in a Long Island mall while struggling with a security guard who caught him shoplifting earlier this week.
Hibbert was detained by Fifth Squad Detectives and Bureau of Special Operations Officers on Thursday and arraigned at the First District Court in Hempstead on Friday, police said.
The defendant was charged with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second-degree criminal use of a firearm, third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, first-degree reckless endangerment, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm.
At 11:14 a.m. on Monday Hibbert was allegedly caught shoplifting from Clique Apparel, a store on the second floor of the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, by a security guard.
When the security guard confronted the suspect it escalated into a physical confrontation that bled into the shopping center’s common area.
According to Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder, the suspect brandished a gun and, during the struggle with the guard, a shot went off and hit the ground.
The suspect then left the mall, stripping the shoplifted clothes, and fled the scene in his boxers, Ryder said.
No injuries were reported in relation to this incident.