"We don't know yet what precipitated this incident," said Lt. Wendy Stiver. "We don't know why this man was behaving that way."
Mike Blangiforti, vice president of public relations for Arrow Security in New York, confirmed that Joshua Karp is an employee of the company and was involved in the shooting. Karp has been granted personal leave while the police investigation is ongoing, Blangiforti said.
Loves Travel Stops released a statement extending condolences to the victims' friends and family.
"We are deeply saddened by an incident that occurred at our new location in Dayton, Ohio yesterday involving a Love's customer and a private, third-party security guard," the statement reads. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the family and friends of our customer. Love's is working closely with law enforcement to investigate the situation and we thank all of our loyal customers for the outpouring of support."
Shortly after 7:30 p.m. Sunday, police officers responded to Love's Travel Center at 2217 S. Edwin C. Moses Blvd. where they found Sojic shot in the chest and the arm.
He was taken to Miami Valley Hospital, but succumb to his injuries.
Sojic lived in Naperville, Ill. according to the Montgomery County Coroner's office. He was a owner-operator who was driving a semi parked at the Love's on Sunday. Police said he was contracted with Universal Trucking.
According to witnesses, which included a customer and an employee inside the store, Sojic had been asked to leave the travel center prior to the shooting. At some point he came back inside and began walking toward the counter of the truck stop store, almost appearing as if he was attempting to go behind the counter, said Lt. Mark Ponichtera of the Dayton Police Department.
The guard felt threatened and shot at the subject, Ponichtera said.
Police are reviewing surveillance video as part of their investigation, some of which was not immediately available, Stiver said.
The Love's Truck Stop just opened within the last week.
"It is unfortunate that this happened at a brand new business," Ponichtera said, but he added that this type of incident could have occurred at any of the other surrounding businesses that have been opened for a number of years.
"We have had a meeting with the owners (of the truck stop) at this location to let them know about trends in the area here," Ponichtera said.
Although police did not want to deter new business from opening in the area, they did advise the business that certain security measures should be taken.
"It is a situation we told them it would be appropriate for them to have security here, we want to make sure that everybody is properly secured and safe," Ponichtera said.
Stiver said the level of security suggested would have been suggested for any 24-hour business, regardless of location. The area near the truck stop is known to police as a high drug and crime area with dozens of drugs arrests taking place in the parking lots of BP gas station, Wendy's and McDonald's nearby in the past five years, according to police reports.
Charges from the shooting will not be filed until a full investigation is completed. Homicide detectives interviewed Karp at the scene, but he was not taken into custody.
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