WASHINGTON — A D.C. man was sentenced to more than five years in prison after he attacked Southeast D.C. store owners, who attempted to stop him from stealing liquor from them.
In November 2017, Avon Thompson took a bottle of liquor from the shelves of a store in the 2400 block of Martin Luther King Jr., Avenue SE, shoved it down his pants and attempted to leave without paying. When the store owner approached the now 23-year-old, he “turned irate” and hit the store owner several times before turning a knife on the man, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
The store owner’s wife came out to help defend her husband, and Thompson assaulted her as well. At one point, Thompson had both victims on the floor and attacked them, prosecutors said.
As a result of the assault, the store owner had multiple cuts on his head and had to undergo multiple dental surgeries to repair damaged and missing teeth, prosecutors said. The store owner’s wife sustained a broken write and had to have surgery to insert a metal rod in her arm.
Police arrested Thompson shortly after the attack, and has been in police custody ever since.
On Friday, Thompson was sentenced to five years and three months in prison. He will be placed on three years probation after his release.
Thompson pleaded guilty in January 2018, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault with significant bodily injury.