The gunman fired a shot from the AK-47 assault rifle inside the store but no one was hit, said Maj. John DiPietro, Miami Twp.’s deputy chief of police.
The gunman demanded morphine and OxyContin, a narcotic pain reliever, from the clerk, DiPietro said. A shell casing was found in the store near the pharmacy counter, police said.
No one other than the gunman was shot, DiPietro said. The gunman, described by witnesses as being in his 60s and about 6 feet tall, carried as many as four knives and two to three magazines of AK-47 ammunition on his person, DiPietro said.
Police did not immediately release the names of the gunman or the Miami Twp. police officer who shot him at the store, located along Ohio 741. The officer has been with the police force for at least 10 years, DiPietro said.
Ken Stamper, 57, of West Carrollton, a customer inside the Walgreens, said he saw the gunman enter the store with the rifle, at about 2 p.m.
“I looked him in the eye,” Stamper said. “The look on his face was pretty crazy.”
The Miami Twp. police officer responding to the report of a robbery drove up outside the store and encountered the gunman, who fired at the officer without striking him, DiPietro said. The officer returned fire, striking the gunman in the chest and the leg, DiPietro said.
Reporters and photographers saw a shattered window in the officer’s police cruiser.
The gunman was taken to Miami Valley Hospital. His condition is unknown
Police sought a search warrant to examine the contents of a white van that the gunman had driven to the store location, DiPietro said.
Stamper said he left the store, then saw the gunman come out as the police were arriving.
“He was firing all over the place,” Stamper said of the gunman.
Based on the amount of ammunition and the weapons that the gunman carried, there appeared to be little doubt that he had intended to rob the drugstore, DiPietro said. Police confiscated video footage from a security camera in the store.
Police will do an internal investigation, which is routine in any shooting involving a Miami Twp. police officer, DiPietro said.
The video showed the gunman pointing his rifle at a female clerk, but did not show when he fired the weapon inside the store, DiPietro said.
“Those gunshots will forever echo in my ears,” said Lucille Damron, 83, who had been inside the store with her daughter, Pamela Damron, 62, of West Carrollton, to pick up a prescription. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”
The gunman pointed his rifle at a pharmacy clerk who was “putting medicine in a bag,” according to Tina Isreal , 47, of Dayton. Isreal said she saw the encounter through the store’s drive-through window along with her daughter, Teonna Barber, 16.
Isreal said she pulled around the building and saw the suspect emerge from the front of the store shooting at the police officer.
“The suspect started shooting at the officer,” Isreal said.
One unidentified witness said the man wore camouflage and what appeared to be a bulletproof vest. Another witness said the gunman wore a white T-shirt.
Debbie Vicory, of Dayton, said she was inside the store and saw the gunman waving the weapon around.
“I heard a loud pop, bang,” she said.
Pamela Damron said she saw the gunman, then ducked down in a store aisle.
“I am in a daze,” she said.