Police investigate similar pepper-spray attacks at different Walgreens stores
MIAMI - Late morning, police from two different departments responded to two nearly identical attacks that happened 45 minutes apart.
Police said a suspected shoplifter pepper-sprayed a Walgreens employee.
The first incident occurred at a store located on the 9600 block of NW 41 Street in Doral at around 10 a.m.
Doral police told CBS4 a Walgreens employee confronted a shoplifter and that is when the suspect pepper-sprayed the employee.
Authorities said one person had to be hospitalized and the store had to be temporarily evacuated after the spray got into the store's AC vents, quickly spreading throughout the store.
Six miles down the road, off Coral Way, a similar scene unfolded.
An eyewitness told CBS4, off camera, that an employee was pepper-sprayed by a man attempting to shoplift.
Eyewitnesses say the suspect sprinted out of the store and ran into a getaway car.
The store manager says the employee is fine and everyone in the store is good to go.
Miami-Dade police said they're unsure if anything was stolen or if the same suspect is connected to the incident in Doral.
Both law enforcement agencies are working to determine if these two attacks on separate Walgreens stores tie back to the same suspect or suspects.
We reached out to Walgreens for reaction and surveillance footage. They have yet to respond.
