YOUNGSTOWN Man found dead after shooting

The victim was found in bushes behind a North Side house.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The mother of a 9-year-old girl says her daughter heard gunfire and saw two men run from a house on Tod Lane, where a man died today.
The shooting at 119 Tod happened about 7:30 a.m., according to Torrie McDowell, who lives across the street. McDowell said her daughter Tyesha heard gunshots while watching cartoons and getting ready for school.
"She said she saw two dudes running down the street," McDowell said. When McDowell went to her front door to look out, she heard her neighbor's screams.
Tyesha went to school.
Police called to the North Side crime scene checked the area around Logan Avenue, looking for the suspects. About that time, a little girl, probably about 6, boarded a school bus just down the block from the crime scene where cruisers and ambulances filled the street.
The victim's identity was not released by St. Elizabeth Health Center this morning pending notification of family. The case has been turned over to Mahoning County Coroner David M. Kennedy.
The scene: As detectives combed the back yard where the victim was found in bushes, LaKeesha Jenkins, who lives at 119 Tod, stood in front of the house and talked hysterically on her cell phone. Neighbors gathered outside in the chilly air to find out what happened.
Jenkins got into the rear of a cruiser to go downtown to speak to detectives but got out when two men she knew arrived. The men spoke to her on the porch of her two-story house.
Jenkins tried, through choking tears, to tell them what happened.
"They shot him bad -- in the stomach and leg," Jenkins told the men. "They kicked in the front door and had a gun in my face. I said I only got $30."
Jenkins said the shooters threatened to kill everyone in the house and added, "All I saw was a mask and guns."
Afterward, Jenkins went downtown to give police a statement.
Today's homicide is the 25th of the year. At this time last year, the city had recorded 25 homicides.
meade@vindy.com