POLICE FLIP CHARGES IN DAYTON MALL SHOOTING
Police say woman acted in self-defense in incident at Dayton Mall.
No charges will MIAMI TWP. — be filed against a South Carolina woman who shot her male companion outside the Dayton Mall Sears Monday afternoon.
Instead, police said the wounded man will be charged with assault and possibly further crimes, as the woman — a firearms advocate with conceal carry weapons training — acted in self-defense in firing between 10 and 15 shots in the third shooting outside the mall in as many years.
Police and prosecutors were weighing evidence Tuesday afternoon, and later set free 48-yearold Jordana L. Esses of South Carolina, according to Miami Twp. police.
“The case involved a female who was assaulted by a male companion, and who ultimately shot a handgun at the same male,” police said in a statement issued late Tuesday afternoon.
The man, identified as Brenton Boudreau from Michigan, will face misdemeanor assault and possibly felony kidnapping charges, according to police.
“After considering the facts it was agreed that this was a case of self-defense on Esses’ part,” police said in the statement.
The shooting occurred about 4:30 p.m. in the parking lot
outside the Sears at the Dayton Mall.
Esses was booked into the Montgomery County Jail after 9 p.m. and released just after 2 p.m. Tuesday, police said. All four of Esses’ dogs were collected and taken to the Montgomery County animal shelter, according to police.
Early reports indicated Boudreau was struck at least once in his lower leg, and Esses had no visible injuries, police said.
Boudreau was taken to Kettering Medical Center for two gunshot wounds to his left leg. Boudreau left the hospital against medical advice, according to police.
The mall is a hub of activity that helps swell Miami Twp.’s population of about 30,000 to nearly three times that during the day.
It anchors a district that’s home to more than 200 businesses, but is an aging area targeted for millions of dollars in redevelopment after Miami Twp. and Miamisburg adopted a long-term plan and are rebranding it as the Miami Crossing District.
The most common crimes — by an “overwhelming” margin, according to Miami Twp. Police Capt. John Magill — are theft and shoplifting.
The last shooting occurred in December 2014. That’s when a 16-year-old Middletown student was shot and killed outside the mall while he was trying to rob a concealed-carry permit holder of his newly purchased athletic shoes five days before Christmas, authorities said.
Six months earlier, a 41-year-old Los Angeles man was fatally shot outside P.F. Chang’s restaurant in a parking area that’s in the mall’s corridor.
The more common crimes, police have said, are drug deals or fights.
The latter is what police said was occurring between Esses and the man she was with before the argument escalated.
Miami Twp. police said the couple stopped for supplies at Sears, but a verbal argument escalated into the shooting.