WARREN Probe continues after cop is shot during call

The officers were responding to a break-in.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
WARREN -- An investigation continues into a shooting Monday morning in which a police officer was hit twice in the leg by friendly fire.
Chief John Mandopoulos said Monday the events were not yet clear, but another Warren officer shot Ben Harrell, 38, twice during a burglary probe.
That officer, whom Mandopoulos declined to identify, has been assigned in-house duty until the investigation is complete.
"I don't want anyone to get the idea the officers were being reckless, because they were not," Mandopoulos said. "These are the kinds of things that can happen."
Stable condition
Harrell, who was assigned to a security detail for Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority, was in stable condition in Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital.
The two officers were among those who responded when a neighbor reported seeing two men break into a two-story home at 750 Austin Ave. S.W. on Sunday night, shortly before midnight.
There was no one home.
"An officer saw a suspect in the house with a gun in his hand," Mandopoulos said. "Two shots were fired by a Warren officer."
He said officers are trained to fire in quick bursts of two.
After the two suspects, Matthew Smith and Edward Lighting, both 19, were arrested, a gun was recovered in the house.
Mandopoulos said it is not clear if the gun belonged to the resident or one of the suspects. Tests are being performed on the gun.
Suspects plead innocent
Both suspects pleaded innocent Monday in municipal court to charges of aggravated burglary.
Judge Terry Ivanchak set bond for Smith, of 363 Parkman Road, at $100,000.
No bond was set for Lighting, of 726 Oak St., who is on probation after being convicted of aggravated trespassing earlier this month.
Mandopoulos said Harrell, an officer since 1998, was shot in the back yard.