The store’s 68-year-old owner shot and wounded 18-year-old Jeffery L Ellison, according to the report.
Dayton Lt. Mark Ponichtera said the suspect walked into the laundromat and was confronted by the owner, who recognized the man from a previous incident that was recorded on surveillance video.
The suspect displayed a hammer and threatened to attack the owner, who then drew a firearm and shot him in self-defense, Ponichtera said.
The suspect ran from the store. A wounded man identified as Ellison was located not far away at Smithville and Linden Avenue. Ellison remained a patient at Miami Valley Hospital on Sunday. His condition was not released.
Ponichtera said detectives are working with Riverside investigators to see if the suspect can be linked to other incidents there.
Ellison’s girlfriend, 32-year-old Jonni-Lyn Desiree Evans, was arrested as an alleged accomplice, Ponichtera said. She is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on suspicion of aggravated robbery and three counts of vandalism — all felonies, according to online jail records.
The laundromat was open Sunday.
In addition to two previous thefts at Laundro-Mania, coin boxes were ripped open on two occasions at the Towne Laundry in Riverside. Police said there was a woman acting as a lookout in the most recent incident there on April 3.
Towne Laundry owner Alan Hunter told News Center 7 at the time that he believed the same individual was responsible for both thefts at his store.
“I’m assuming all us laundromat owners would like to see him put away so we can have the peace of mind when we go to bed at night knowing our stores are not going to be destroyed,” Hunter had said of the alleged robber.
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