According to WHIO, the Love’s security guard who shot and killed an Illinois truck driver in Ohio will not face charges.
A Montgomery County, Ohio grand jury ruled on Monday that Joshua Karp, 25, will not face charges in the shooting death of an unarmed truck driver, Goran Sojic, 48.
On December 8, 2013 Sojeck, a truck driver from Illinois, was shot and killed by a security guard at the newly-opened Love’s Travel Center in Dayton, Ohio.
According to the Dayton Daily News, at approximately 7:30 p.m., just four days after the travel center’s opening, a 25-year-old security guard shot 48-year-old owner operator Goran Sojic in the arm and chest.
A witness said that Sojic had been asked to leave the truck stop. The witness claims, some time later, Sojic came back into the truck stop and “charged the guard and was acting erratically.”
According to ABC 22, Karp said that “he felt threatened by the customer and that’s when he fired shots.”
Sojic was transported to Miami Valley Hospital where he later died.
In an earlier interview, Karp’s attorney, Jon Paul Rion maintained that his client acted “properly and in accordance with his training,” the Dayton Daily News reported.
“Ohio Dept. of Safety spokesman Joseph Andrews said Karp was hired by Arrow Security Oct. 30, 2013 and that Karp was in ‘applied status’ until the registration is complete and background checks are done. That status means Karp was not permitted to carry a weapon,” the Dayton Daily News reported.
Rion said that Karp had been approved for the firearms bearers designation and he was just waiting on the card.
Karp reportedly completed security guard training through the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in the summer of 2012. Two months later, Karp got his first fire bearers registration with 1st Choice Security.
In the state of Ohio, security guards must apply for new designation and registration every time they switch companies.
The Montgomery County Grand Jury heard testimony from twelve individuals, including police officers, first responders and Love’s and Hardee’s employees and reviewed ballistics, toxicology, video surveillance, and autopsy reports for four days.
After reviewing the testimony and evidence, the Grand Jury, “returned a no true bill, declining to indict anyone on felony charges. The deceased, while speaking a foreign language, charged at an armed, uniformed security guard behind the enclosed cash register area, and refused his commands to stop, which caused the security guard to fear for his life, as well as the safety for others in the establishment,” the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office stated in a press release.
Sources: Dayton Daily News
ABC 22
Dayton, Ohio Police Department
Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office