Suspect in women's murder surrenders

The gunman's only demand before surrendering was to see his children.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police said a murder suspect holed up in a North Side house fired numerous shots at officers before climbing down a back fire escape and surrendering.
Jermaine McKinney, who was being sought in the killing of a Newton Township woman and her adult daughter, was arrested outside the Halleck Street home just before 6 p.m. Sunday. No one was harmed in the four-hour standoff.
Joe Wess, a Youngstown police officer, learned McKinney was in the area while talking to neighbors as he worked on another case. Wess called in other officers, and shots were fired at them as they walked through the back yard of the Halleck Street house.
McKinney fired many shots during negotiations, and police found a rifle, shotgun and pistol inside the house, said Lt. Robin Lees, Youngstown police spokesman.
"The officers were under constant attack," Lees said.
Police blocked off traffic on several streets in the area and told Halleck Street residents to stay in their basements. Police escorted some residents out of their homes, however.
A tactical response team from several area police departments handled negotiations with McKinney.
His demand
The suspect's only demand was to see his children, Lees said. Although several members of McKinney's family were in the area, police did not want to bring the children near the house, so they refused McKinney's requests, Lees said.
McKinney had said a woman was in the house with him and pretended to talk to another person, but police found no one else in the house after he surrendered.
Lees said police didn't use tear gas because negotiators were confident they could talk him out of the house. Negotiators repeatedly told McKinney that he wasn't going anywhere so he might as well come out and "do this thing right," Lees said.
The officer said McKinney also apparently was on the phone with relatives, who may have been asking him to surrender.
McKinney was taken to the Mahoning County jail, and Lees said he expected additional charges to be filed.
Murder charges
McKinney, who has had several addresses in Youngstown, was charged Friday with two counts of aggravated murder and one count each of kidnapping, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and aggravated arson.
Also Friday, Keyatta J. Riley Hines was arraigned on charges of complicity to aggravated robbery and complicity to aggravated burglary. No address was available for Hines.
The charges against Hines and McKinney were filed in connection with the deaths of Wanda Rollyson, 70, and her 45-year-old daughter, Rebecca Cliburn of Warren. They were found dead Dec. 22 in the basement of Rollyson's home at 3754 Newton-Bailey Road. Both women were burned beyond recognition.
shilling@vindy.com