{"id":296924,"date":"2026-06-05T09:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/296924\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T09:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:04:07","slug":"psl-police-investigate-targeted-incident-outside-middle-eastern-grocery-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/296924\/","title":{"rendered":"PSL police investigate targeted incident outside Middle Eastern grocery store"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Port St. Lucie police are investigating what they describe as a targeted incident outside a local grocery store specializing in Middle Eastern food products.<\/p>\n<p>According to police, the incident happened around 1:40 p.m. on May 30 at a business in the 1000 block of SE Port St. Lucie Boulevard.<\/p>\n<p>Surveillance video reviewed by investigators shows an unidentified woman walking in front of the store and placing what appear to be pork-based food products along the sidewalk outside the business.<\/p>\n<p>Police said initial findings indicate the act was not random.<\/p>\n<p>For store owner Hiba Sharifeh, the incident was both confusing and upsetting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat I don\u2019t understand is what was the point of this? What did I do?\u201d Sharifeh said.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/second-black-bear-sighting-in-tradition-community-raising-concerns-about-wildlife-habitats-boar-camera-backyard-retention-pond-residential-neighborhood-town-park-homeowners-association\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Second black bear sighting in Tradition community raising concerns about wildlife habitats <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sharifeh said she was attending her nephew\u2019s graduation ceremony when the incident happened. Her husband and 11-year-old son were working at the store when her son called her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy son calls me and goes, \u2018Mommy, we\u2019re being attacked,\u2019\u201d Sharifeh recalled. \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, \u2018What do you mean?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After reviewing surveillance footage, Sharifeh said she noticed the woman appeared to intentionally place the items directly in front of her business. She said the store has been open for more than a year and she had never experienced anything like it before.<\/p>\n<p>While the incident happened outside her business, Sharifeh said her biggest concern was her family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy concern was my children. I\u2019m not worried about myself. I\u2019m worried about them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Sharifeh said she opened the store to share her culture and create a welcoming environment for everyone in the community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce you walk into my store, you\u2019re like family,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t care where you\u2019re from or what religion you practice or what color you are. I opened a public store not to be judging anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Police said detectives with the Criminal Investigative Division are working to identify and locate the woman seen in the surveillance video. Investigators are processing available video and physical evidence, but have not released additional details because the case remains active.<\/p>\n<p>The department said it takes acts intended to disrupt, harass or target local businesses seriously.<\/p>\n<p>Sharif said she decided to speak publicly about the incident because she did not want to remain silent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I didn\u2019t speak up, that would probably make me an easy target,\u201d she said. \u201cI have to let everybody know what\u2019s going on around me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact the Port St. Lucie Police Department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Port St. Lucie police are investigating what they describe as a targeted&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-296924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}