Security guard won't be indicted for shooting trucker

The Love's Travel Stop security guard who shot and killed an unarmed truck driver will not be indicted, a Montgomery County grand jury ruled.

The Montgomery County Prosecutor's Office announced Monday that neither Joshua Karp, 25, nor anyone else would face charges in the death of 48-year-old Goran Sojic. Karp fired multiple times at Sojic on Dec. 8, 2013 at the new truck stop on Edwin C. Moses Boulevard.

A press release from the prosecutor's office said that Sojic, "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 of others inside the establishment."

The release said the grand jury considered evidence after a lengthy Dayton police investigation and testimony from 12 witnesses. Those witnesses included police officers, an EMS responder, and civilian employees of both the Love's Travel Stop and the Hardee's Restaurant which are located inside the same building. The grand jury also heard forensic evidence gathered from ballistics testing, autopsy findings, toxicology testing and from security surveillance video.

"The Karp family is satisfied that the right decision was made by the grand jury... . there's a great deal of relief, obviously," said Karp's attorney, Jon Paul Rion. "It's very hard to go through these situations — on both sides. Tragedies affect everybody."

Rion said his argument was that the Castle Doctrine — which supports self-defense claims when an individual is in his home, vehicle or a dwelling — applied since the truck stop is a dwelling in which Karp was allowed.

"I think anybody who is put in a situation of having a fairly large person running, screaming and attacking them would act in a way to attempt to defend themselves," Rion said. "That's what Josh did."

Sojic's family has brought a civil lawsuit against Karp, the truck stop and two security companies, alleging wrongful death. A message seeking comment from the Sojic family's attorney was not immediately returned. Karp has civil attorneys employed by the security guard company who are representing him in that case.

Court documents show the civil case is set for a telephone scheduling conference on Thursday.