Teen hears city's latest homicide

YOUNGSTOWN -- A Volney Rogers Junior High School pupil riding his bike on West Hylda Avenue just before 1:30 a.m. Sunday heard, but didn't see, the city's latest homicide.
Police found the victim, 20-year-old Jerome Williams of Almyra Avenue, dead in the 500 block of Hylda on the city's South Side, where he'd been walking. Williams was found face down with his arms tucked underneath his body.
Officers found seven casings in the street.
The bike rider, a 15-year-old eighth-grader, had called police from a pay phone. He told officers that he had spoken to Williams as they passed on the street and then continued riding his bike.
As he rode, the boy heard several gunshots and saw a dark-colored car that had turned onto Hylda from Utilis Avenue drive past where Williams was shot. After being interviewed by police, the boy was taken home and released to his mother.
A 20-year-old Cohasset Avenue man who approached police identified the victim.
A few hours after the shooting, police received information that the shooting may have involved a dispute between the victim and another man over a woman.
Williams is the city's 17th homicide victim this year and the fourth since June 4.