SURVEILLANCE VIDEO

Police say robber fired first shot in carryout

W. Toledo store clerk responded to incident

11/4/2013

December Long had already been shot when she opened fire on the man robbing the West Toledo carryout where she works.

She was shot at least once in her abdomen, according to a police incident report about the Saturday night incident.

Police Sgt. Joe Heffernan said that after reviewing surveillance video taken from the Stop & Go, 3131 W. Sylvania Ave., it appears the robber, Christopher Shockley, 28, fired first.

Shockley was shot once in his torso, said Lucas County Deputy Coroner Dr. Maneesha Pandey, who performed the man’s autopsy Monday.

When police arrived, Shockley was found unconscious near the front door; Ms. Long was at the back of the store, the report states. Store owner Dan Ridi did not return calls for comment on Sunday or Monday.

Ms. Long was taken to Toledo Hospital for treatment, police said. A hospital spokesman did not have information about any patient named December Long.

Officials do not expect charges will be filed against Ms. Long. Sergeant Heffernan said he did not know how many shots were fired.

Police declined to release the surveillance video.

Shockley’s address, provided by police, was listed as 1201 Champlain St. in North Toledo, a Volunteers of America halfway house, part of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.

JoEllen Smith, spokesman for the state prison system, said Shockley, originally from Salisbury, Md., left the halfway house on Jan. 30 after he “secured” an address approved by the Adult Parole Authority.

Shockley was incarcerated on Nov. 7, 2003, after being convicted of aggravated robbery in Butler County. He was serving a seven-year sentence and on Oct. 14, 2012, was released on a five-year, post-release control, Ms. Smith said in an email.

Ms. Smith said Shockley was living at the Volunteers of America apartment building “because he had no housing available in the community.”

On Oct. 19, after about a year of employment, Shockley was fired from his job as a kennel assistant at the Ability Center of Greater Toledo because he stopped showing up for work.

Contact Taylor Dungjen at tdungjen@theblade.com, or 419-724-6054, or on Twitter @taylordungjen.