Under department policy, Raso will be placed on administrative leave for several days and then assigned to alternative duty until the investigation is completed, Cherry Hill police said.
The shooting took place just before 7 p.m., when both the mall and the parking lot were filled with weekend shoppers.
A Macy's store detective spotted Abraham and his cousin, tentatively identified by police as Peter Cummings 3d, 21, as they were allegedly shoplifting clothing from the store, Borden said, in what he called a preliminary account of the incident.
The detective then called mall security for assistance, Borden said.
The detective, Raso and another security guard followed the men out of the Macy's men's department and into the parking lot. There, the guards split up and pursued the suspects on foot, Borden said.
Raso approached the two suspects as they got to their 1986 Mercury Sable. The driver jumped in while the second man was locked out and left standing outside. The driver put the car into reverse and rammed a car parked nearby several times, Borden said.
Raso, who was standing in front of the car, ordered the driver to stop. Instead, he put the car into forward gear and accelerated it, Borden said.
Raso raised her service weapon, a 9mm semiautomatic, and fired once. The shot shattered the driver-side window and struck Abraham under the left arm.
The car sped forward several hundred yards through the parking lot, jumping several curbs and striking a tree before coming to a stop on a curb, Borden said.
Abraham was taken to Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center, where he died about an hour later. According to Borden, the bullet struck his liver and another vital organ.
Neither Abraham nor Cummings was armed, Borden said.
Borden would not comment on Raso's action, saying his office will conduct a ''painstaking" investigation.
