Reports: Customers thwart robber at Harrison Twp. Family Dollar store

HARRISON TWP. — UPDATE @ 7 p.m.

A 59-year-old man was booked into the Montgomery County Jail this morning on suspicion of robbery.

However, Soloman Smith III was not formally charged, online jail records show.

>> Dayton firefighter arrested on OVI charge

He was arrested on North Main Street in Harrison Twp. by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office shortly after the robbery reported at the Family Dollar store.

FIRST REPORT

Two customers inside a Harrison Twp. Family Dollar store pulled a robber off an employee, according to a 911 call.

Deputies were dispatched to the Family Dollar at 5800 N. Main St. in Harrison Twp. around 9:40 a.m. after the robbery was reported.

An employee called 911 and reported the robber waited for all but two customers to leave before he approached the employee.

“(He came) flying from the door with a mask over his face,” the caller stated in the 911 call obtained by this news outlet. “(He) snatched me up and said ‘Come on, you’re going with me. I need all your money.’”

The employee said two customers inside the store pulled the robber off the employee, thwarting the robbery.

“Luckily I had two regular customers in there. (They) got him off me, slammed him to the ground, and then he took off running,” the employee said in the call.

No weapon was displayed, but the employee noted the suspect kept a hand in his pocket the entire time.

“I knew something was up with him though because I kept asking him was he OK, and he wouldn’t even turn around to look at me,” the employee stated.

The employee said the man ran from the store towards the Fountainhead Apartments nearby. Emergency scanner traffic indicates deputies were searching in the area but it wasn’t immediately known whether an arrest was made.

No injuries were reported.