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Hernando Today

Suspect Named In Boyett's Shooting

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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: January 22, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - BROOKSVILLE - A suspect has been named in the near-fatal shooting of a shopkeeper at Boyett's Grove last April.
The sheriff's office announced Tuesday that a warrant is out for the arrest of 23-year-old Elijah Jermaine Montgomery, who goes by the street name "Money."
Montgomery is already locked up in the Orange County Jail while he awaits trial on unrelated charges. Once that process is complete, detectives will serve the warrant and bring him to Hernando County.
Kathy Oleson, the victim's wife, greeted the news with optimism, though the detectives had tipped her off earlier that an arrest was coming.
It was a "news release to everybody else," she said.
Meanwhile, the sheriff's office was guarded in its comments, as the case remains open. Still at large and unidentified are the other two robbers who stormed into the tourist shop on Spring Lake Highway the afternoon of April 25.
Deputy Donna Black, spokeswoman, was hesitant to use the word "excited" about the break in the case. There's still "a lot of investigation underway," she said.
Authorities are still trying to piece together Montgomery's connections between his native Orlando and Hernando and Pasco counties.
They're especially interested in identifying those two other suspects, who wore "scary" Halloween masks during the robbery, and locating the trio's getaway car.
Montgomery first fell under suspicion after an incident in Orlando seven weeks after the robbery at Boyett's Grove.
According to an arrest warrant, Montgomery dropped a gun and his driver's license during a foot chase from Orlando police in June 2007.
The gun was sent for analysis by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the agency determined that it matched the bullet casing collected from Boyett's Grove.
Hernando Today first published the possible lead after an interview with Jim Oleson, the wounded shopkeeper, in October.
By December, the Olesons were on their way to Orlando to pick out a suspect from a live lineup at the jail.
All the way there, Kathy Oleson fretted that she would not be able to identify the man who had attacked her and her husband.
"It was an extremely serious moment," she said on Tuesday.
Her worries were unwarranted. Oleson said the minute she laid eyes on Montgomery, she instantly recognized him as the suspect.
It wasn't until she walked back to her car that the emotion and memories came flooding back.
Investigators give this narrative of how the robbery occurred:
It was 2:40 p.m. when three black men burst into the store. Montgomery grabbed Kathy Oleson by her hair and dragged her around the business demanding money at gunpoint.
Montgomery tugged Oleson around the store while he destroyed the phones and when he came across her husband he "immediately and without warning" shot him in the chest.
The suspect and two others fled the store, leaving Jim Oleson bleeding heavily on the store's tile floor.
He spent two months in the intensive care unit and still faces a long road to recovery. But his wife says he continues in good spirits and helps around the store when he can.
The main concern for the Olesons now is apprehending the two other suspects.
"We're really hoping to have some more information," Kathy Oleson said.
Montgomery faces charges in Hernando County of attempted murder, two counts of robbery with a firearm, aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm.
Records show he has a lengthy criminal history, including sex offenses against minors as a juvenile and carrying a concealed firearm. The open charges currently against him are weapons offenses, including discharging a firearm in public.

* Authorities are still searching for two suspects in connection with the April 25 robbery at Boyett's Grove on Spring Lake Highway. Anyone with information about these two, who are described as black males in the late teens or early 20s, or Elijah Jermaine Montgomery, aka "Money", is urged to call the sheriff's office at 352-754-6830 or for anonymous tips worth up to $1,000, call 1-866-990-TIPS (8477).

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com

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