DAYTON — A man shot by an off-duty Kettering police officer after allegedly robbing a store and adducting a person last year has been sentenced to prison.
Enrique Mendez, 25, was sentenced last week to 12 to 16.5 years in prison, according to Montgomery County Common Pleas Court records. The sentencing came after he pleaded to two counts of aggravated robbery and a misdemeanor count of aggravated menacing.
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On Oct. 8, Mendez entered La Tapatia, a grocery store on Burkart Avenue in Riverside, with a handgun. He proceeded to go behind the sales counter and rob the store, according to court documents filed initially in Kettering Municipal Court. He reportedly fired one shot from behind the counter.
From there, he approached a man and ordered him to give over his money and cell phone. Mendez, who remained armed, made the man drive his own vehicle to Meijer on Wilmington Pike.
At the grocery store, Mendez ordered the victim to remove $5,000 from his account. He also threatened the man and his family.
“[Mendez] told the victim he knew who he was and he knows where he lives and if he didn’t get the money or called police, [Mendez] would kill his family,” according to court records.
As News Center 7 previously reported, Kettering officers were called to the Meijer on reports of an armed robbery in progress.
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Shortly after that, Kettering officers chased Mendez on foot. During the chase, an off-duty Kettering officer found the suspect and was confronted by him in a backyard on Tangent Drive.
Police previously told News Center 7 that the officer gave Mendez commands, but was threatened with a weapon. At that time, the officer shot at and hit Mendez.
Mendez suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken into custody.
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