UPDATE @ 2:22 p.m. (May 17)
Surveillance video was released Tuesday in a March attack and robbery of the owner of Gilly’s Jazz in Dayton.
The suspect is a man with dark complexion, standing about 5 feet 8 inches, wearing a dark ball cap with white trim or writing on the visor, a dark hooded sweatshirt with some writing across the chest, light colored sweatpants and black tennis shoes.
After exiting the rear of Gilly’s Jazz, the suspect was picked up on surveillance video inside the RTA Hub downtown.
Anyone with information on this suspect or attack, contact Crime Stoppers at 937-222-7867.
UPDATE @ 11:15 a.m. (March 25)
Gilly’s Jazz owner Gerald L. Gillotti said he expects to make a full recovery after he was attacked and robbed at his venue earlier this month.
Gillotti, 79, spoke exclusively with NewsCenter 7’s Andy Sedlak on Thursday, and said he’s still sore from his injuries, which included a busted eardrum and getting his teeth “knocked out of whack.”
He was robbed and injured around 4 p.m. March 16 as he was setting up for an event at Gilly's, 132 S. Jefferson Street.
“It’s been 34 years at that same location, so I thought some day, somebody would (break in),” Gillotti said. “It’s the law of averages. But I’ve never felt unsafe or felt that I was in trouble. … This guy scoped me out. He must have saw I had an event that night. This wasn’t random. He knew what he was doing.”
Gillotti — who said the suspect got away with about $3,000 — said he’s lucky to be alive.
“I was turning my breakers on to get my power on, and I turn around and see this big guy,” Gillotti said. “I know he doesn’t belong there. All of a sudden, he’s just on me and beating me. … I don’t remember one punch. I just remember seeing him coming down on me.”
Gillotti said there’s been an outpouring of love and concern toward him from the community, with flowers, cards, phone calls and money.
“I’ll get a lot of rest and hope it heals and get my teeth and hearing right,” Gillotti said. “I have to take it real easy.”
Gillotti said he’ll get back to work as soon as he can. A Funk Center 70’s Party is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday.
“That’s what I do, who I am,” Gillotti said. “I’m not open that much; only open a couple days a week.”
INITIAL REPORT
Dayton police detectives are investigating a robbery and attack at Gilly’s Jazz in Dayton.
About 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 16, the owner, Gerald L. Gillotti, 79, was reportedly robbed and injured, according to police.
A 911 call to police dispatch says “somebody just mugged the owner.”
The 911 caller continues: “We found him on the stage and he can’t really stand up very well. I think they hit him with something. … Jerry is not talking real well and he might be in a little bit of shock. … Somebody followed him in the rear door when he unlocked it. … He’s pretty disoriented. … He’s got bleeding out of his mouth.”
Gillotti is listed in fair condition at Miami Valley Hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
“If you’d have seen the injuries, he’s a 79-year-old man, that could have been life threatening,” said Jim Foreman, a music promoter who was at the club at the time.
Foreman said the thief got away with about $2,000 cash.
Foreman is listed in the police report as a witness, and he posted on Facebook about his eye-witness account of the event.
Foreman said he was at the front door of the club to prepare set up for a show that evening, and Gillotti was at the back door. Foreman said when he went around back, he found the door ajar and Gillotti bloodied near the stage.
“At first I thought he had fallen but then we saw the blood and he managed to tell us he had just been robbed and beaten,” Foreman said on his Facebook page.
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