DAYTON — A local business owner is working to make repairs after someone crashed a car into his tattoo shop over the weekend.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, the crash happened at the District Tattoo Company on Wilmington Avenue in Dayton.
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Steve Salmons, the owner of the shop, said the person responsible for the damage did it on purpose.
He said this isn’t the first time that the driver has threatened him.
“We think we know exactly who did this,” Salmons said.
Salmons is still picking up debris from what happened Sunday morning.
He shared video of what happened with News Center 7.
It shows a car smashing into the store, backing up, and then driving away.
After receiving a call from Dayton police on Sunday, Salmons found a mess at his shop.
“I could never have imagined he actually got the car all the way to the very back of the shop, I had four booths in the center,” Salmons said.
Salmons told police the man driving the car was an ex-employee, whom he tried to help get sober.
But Salmons said he let the employee go after he claimed to have driven a large truck into a Food Mart store on Smithville Road earlier this year.
The man allegedly began threatening Salmons, saying he would drive into his store and kill everyone inside.
“I was extremely shocked that he did it to me because I thought we had a pretty decent relationship,” Salmons said.
Salmons is an Army Veteran, who said he’s not ready to let this setback hurt his business.
“And yeah, we’re at the foundation, so what better place to rebuild. So I’m going to make it better and I’m also thinking about changing the name to Hit & Run Tattoo,” Salmons said.
He has thousands of dollars in repairs ahead of him, but Salmons said it won’t stop him.
Miamisburg police arrested the man Salmons believes drove into his store a day later, accusing him of breaking into and stealing things from an AmeriStop Food Mart.
News Center 7 reached out to Dayton police, but they have not confirmed if prosecutors have approved charges connected to the crash.
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