Judge Sentences Business Owner who Shot Employee to 7 Years

Safety at Work

Toledo, OH (WorkersCompensation.com) – A Toledo judge sentenced a local businessman to seven years in prison for fatally shooting one of his employees.

Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Dean Mandros said that even though the victim was acting “like a jerk,” he did not put business owner Eric Salmon, 44, in enough danger to justify the shooting.

Salmon was accused of shooting Joshua Anders, 33, on the evening of Feb. 29, 2024, a shooting he claimed was in self-defense.

Mandros said that after reviewing video from the business Salmon owned, he could not say with absolute certainty that Salmon acted in self-defense. Salmon owns a plumbing-related business in Toledo. Mandros described Anders as “acting like a jerk” during the incident, but that his actions did not warrant Salmon’s response.

The judge said the incident was the “tragic” result of combining alcohol and firearms: “If there hadn’t been excessive alcohol, none of us would be here today.”

On the night of the incident, Toledo police said officers were dispatched to the 400 block of Laskey Road for reports of a person shot. Once officers arrived, they found Anders suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was treated at the scene and then transported to a nearby hospital where he later died.

Officials said Salmon and Anders had been working at the business when they got into an altercation. At some point, Salmon pulled a gun from his right pant pocket and shot Anders multiple times. The Lucas County coroner said Anders died of multiple gunshot wounds and ruled his death a homicide.

Salmon initially pleaded not guilty to two murder charges and a felonious assault charge.

In March of this year, Salmon withdrew his not guilty plea and entered an Alford Plea to involuntary manslaughter instead. In an Alford plea, the defendant agrees that the prosecution has enough evidence to get a determination of guilt, but the defendant maintains their innocence.

Mandros sentenced Salmon to seven years, less than the maximum for involuntary manslaughter. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections could keep Salmon for another three and a half years if he does not behave well in prison.

Salmon’s defense lawyer Jacob Struder asked for a minimum three-year term on the grounds that Salmon’s actions were made out of self-defense.

According to Struder, the two men drank for five hours at the plumbing company premises. At some point, officials said, Anders was “threatening him, his family, and his co-workers, physically attacking him, and in the end charging him while being faced with a drawn firearm,” and that Salmon came to the “rational conclusion” that Anders would injure or kill him.

Anders was an Army Ranger veteran, and Salmon said he had talked about his violent exploits in the military, Struder said. Anders' history made the others present at the business that day fearful when he became drunk, Struder said.

But, Mandros said, the videos also showed Salmon drinking during the evening where the company employees had organized an air-rifle shooting contest after work.

Madros said that around 10 p.m., it seemed that the generally pleasant meeting suddenly turned hostile. The climax of the conflict came when Salmon pointed his gun at Anders, Mandros said, noting “and Josh spread his arms out like, ‘Oh really? You’re going to shoot me? My friend? My employer?’”

Madros said the video showed Salmon take a step back, and fire two shots. After Anders fell, Salmon fired three more shots.

“Using excessive force when someone is no longer a threat” does not qualify for self-defense, Judge Mandros said. “I don’t think Mr. Salmon was in fear for his life. I think he was actually just fed up with Josh’s conduct.”

Salmon’s son, who worked at the company with Anders, witnessed the shooting, along with his wife and Anders wife.

“I truly believe if Mr. Anders would have not tried to come back after my husband, he would be here today,” Laurel Salmon wrote in a letter to the Madros. “Eric and I had decided we would just leave and leave Mr. Anders to his own devices. Unfortunately, that is not what Mr. Anders wanted.”

Anders' wife, Stephanie, told the court the cause of the shooting laid at Salmon’s feet.

“Not a night goes by when I don’t see him lying in a pool of blood, gasping for breath and reaching out to me,” Mrs. Anders said before noting that her husband’s death took away 60 percent of their family’s income.

The chief of special prosecutions for the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office, Mike Loisel, sad Anders left the premises about a half an hour before the shooting, then returned two minutes later. Salmon had kept Anders from leaving, he said, negating the self-defense theory, Loisel said.

For his part, Salmon apologized to Anders’ family and said the situation helped him to understand post-traumatic stress disorder, which was said to explain Anders erratic behavior.

“I am truly sorry Josh is no longer with them [his family]. He was not just my employee, but my friend,” Salmon said. “I will have to live with this for the rest of my life.”

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