After police identify suspect, man turns himself in

Lavardo Karim Simms, the suspect in Monday night's armed robbery of a Blockbuster video store, turned himself in to Boynton Beach Police this afternoon.

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Boynton Beach Police say this is their man. Lavardo Karim Simms has been identified as the man police are looking for in two Blockbuster robberies.

Police say Simms, 20, was the gunman in an armed robbery to a Blockbuster video store that happened around 10:30 p.m. Monday night.
A man wearing a ski mask and armed with a silver chrome handgun ordered the store clerk to empty two cash registers. The suspect fled with the cash in a white plastic bag.

This same Blockbuster was robbed at gunpoint around 10 p.m. this past Thursday night. The suspect car in that armed robbery was a blue Ford Crown Victoria.

Officers responding to the scene saw a car matching that description fleeing the Blockbuster parking lot at a high rate of speed. Officers began a pursuit southbound on I-95 into Delray Beach. The suspect's car crashed into a pole in an alleyway behind the 100 block of Southwest Eighth Avenue.

The suspect bailed out of the car and took off running. A Boynton Beach Police Officer then fired his gun at the suspect. It is unknown at
this time if the suspect was struck because he continued to flee.

Officers from Boynton Beach and Delray Beach established a perimeter and K9 units led officers to a fence surrounding a house in the 100 block of Southwest Seventh Avenue.

A search of the house yielded nothing.

This investigation is ongoing. Police asking that if you know where Simms is, please call Detective Jason Llopis at 742-6144, Detective Al Martinez at 742-6125, 1st Sgt. Paul Sheridan at 742-6133 or Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at (800) 458-TIPS. Anonymous tips can also be submitted via www.bbpd.org