AKRON, Ohio — What started out as a simple shoplifting case in Akron escalated into an attack against a crime witness. A man inside a store offered $100 to encourage the assault, police said.
The incident happened around 11 a.m. Monday at Family Dollar located at 19 N. Arlington Street.
Police said the bizarre incident started after a shoplifter loaded up a garbage can with soap and beauty products and ran out of the store.
A concerned customer, who witnessed the theft, followed the thief briefly.
"The customer saw him run out. The customer started running out too, following the guy and saw two addresses that he went to," said Paige Perryman, the store's manager.
A short time later, the customer returned to the store to give workers the possible location of the crook so that police would know where to look.
However, just moments later, things turned really strange and violent.
Officers said another man inside Family Dollar held up a $100 bill, waved it around and offered the cash to anyone who would beat up the witness. Surveillance video, provided to News 5 by the store, shows the man holding up the money.
Police believe the man with the money was upset at the witness for "snitching."
According to police, two people— a man and a woman— took the callous offer and began struggling, pushing and punching the 45-year-old man in the face.
The video also shows the man with the money joining the fray.
"I saw all this commotion and it was crazy. It was wild," said George Dorsey, who stocks shelves at the store.
Police responded to the scene and were not able to locate the shoplifter or the people involved in the attack.
Body-worn camera captured some of the interaction with the victim.
"I'd say it's a little more than an assault," the victim told the officer. "I think it's more aggressive than an assault."
Lt. Michael Miller compared the crime to offering a bounty in real time and said he's never seen something like this in nearly 25 years on the force.
"To insert yourself deliberately, or intentionally, into this over really a misdemeanor incident and really taking it to the level of offering money to harm somebody, I mean, there's no place for that," Miller said.
Police said it was fortunate that the customer was not seriously hurt.
The store provided still images of the persons of interest and police confirmed they are working to identify those people.
Perryman said there have been several problems with shoplifters but nothing quite this scary.
"This probably was the worst incident we've had, and we did after this incident, we kicked everybody out and and locked the doors for a few hours," she said.
Workers, who remain shaken by the senseless attack, hope everyone involved is identified and arrested.
"Hopefully, we learn by this and I just hope it doesn't happen again," Dorsey said.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Summit County Crimestoppers at 330-434-COPS.
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