An Ohio man faces multiple charges after he allegedly assaulted several staff members and customers at a Goodwill store right after shouting a racist insult at a Black staffer.
Anthony Ball, 21, was booked into jail with no bond and charged with felonious assault, misdemeanor criminal damaging, and disorderly conduct following a raging attack at a Goodwill in Elyria, Ohio, on Sept. 15.
Ball was at the store that day, shopping with his mother, according to The Chronicle-Telegram, citing police reports.
When they got to the checkout line, police said that Ball became aggressive with the Black female cashier after she offered to wrap up shot glasses that his mother had just purchased.
The cashier, Sandra Ross, told police that Ball called her a “black b***h,” prompting Ross to dismiss herself from the interaction and summon a supervisor who could finish the transaction in her place.
When Ross called her supervisor over, she said Ball swore at her again. He also allegedly cursed at the supervisor and was “carrying on with his mother begging him to stop,” Ross told police.
Another supervisor came over to try to de-escalate the situation, but Ball became even more enraged, grabbed a skillet from a shelf, and hit one of the supervisors in the head, drawing blood.
He also smashed the shot glasses over the supervisor’s head. Ross said there was blood “all over the floor.”
She and other witnesses said that in Ball’s rampage, he also pulled down two racks of clothing and wrecked much of the store.
That’s when Ross said she ran to a dressing room, locked herself inside, and dialed 911 using her cellphone. She said that the only other item in the room was a chair.
“I said, ‘Well, if he kicks the door in, all I can do is bust him in the head with this chair, and hope that somebody can get to me,'” Ross told The Chronicle.
Earl Kehle, whose wife works at the Goodwill store, said that he was preparing to drop in and visit her when he saw customers streaming out of the store in panic.
He initially thought there was a shooting and people were fleeing a gunman, but when he went inside, he said he saw Ball hit someone with the skillet.
“When I came into the store, he was attacking people,” Kehl said. “He hit the boss lady across the head with a frying pan.”
Kehl said that after he saw Ball also lunge at two other women, he jumped on his back and wrapped his arm around Ball’s neck in a chokehold. Others also helped Kehl restrain Ball as they waited for the police.
Kehl said Bahl bit his middle finger and drew blood in the process. He believes that Ball was suffering a mental health or behavioral crisis during the violent episode.
Ross recounted how Ball’s temper flared to vicious heights during what should have been a routine customer service experience.
“(Ball) wanted to attack somebody today. Me telling his mom I was gonna put those four glasses in some paper, that wasn’t enough for nobody [to get violent about],” Ross said. “It’s lucky he didn’t kill anyone.”
When police arrived, they immediately took Ball into custody.
“The citizens in the store believed that (Ball) posed a serious threat of harm to those in the store, and he clearly exhibited that when he assaulted the clerk,” Elyria Police Chief James Welsh said. “So they safely held him down until police got there and we appreciate them doing the right thing and stepping up in the face of danger.”
