VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT

VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT
YOUNGSTOWN -- Dozens of area police officers were continuing a frenzied manhunt today for an "armed and dangerous" man wanted in the shooting death of a Youngstown police officer.
Michael Hartzell, 26, was the first city cop killed in the line of duty in 11 years, and the 12th city officer killed in the department's history.
Hartzell was sworn in as a police officer in December 2000.
Police are searching for a suspect, Martin Louis Koliser Jr., 31. He is described as white, 6 feet, 185 pounds, brown hair and eyes, with tattoos on his chest and left arm. Police Chief Bob Bush said Koliser is considered armed and dangerous.
He asked anyone with information about the suspect to call the YPD's detective bureau at (330) 742-8911 or the non-emergency police number at (330) 747-7911.
Police were seen searching a residence at 2373 Innwood Drive, Austintown, about 9 a.m. today but gave no details on what they found. Police scanner traffic said a relative of Koliser's lived on Innwood. That also is the last address police have for Koliser.
An earlier tip on a suspect, whose last known address was on Shields Road in Boardman, proved to be fruitless.
What happened
The shooting occurred at 2:19 a.m. today on Federal Plaza West, near the Home Savings and Loan Building and Edward W. Powers Auditorium.
Bush said Hartzell was on the way to the police station to drop reports related to an earlier shooting at the Casaloma Gardens at 2843 Mahoning Ave. when he made a traffic stop in front of the old Master's Uniform shop. Hartzell called for a license plate check on a gray Lincoln Town Car.
Bush said the check didn't come back "hot," meaning it wasn't stolen. Hartzell was then shot while seated in his cruiser, police said. He was taken to St. Elizabeth Medical Center where he died a short time later, the chief said.
Bush noted that police have good witnesses to the shooting.
Police impounded a two-tone Lincoln Town Car, believed to be the car the suspect was using. It had been abandoned a few blocks from the shooting scene at Rayen and Belmont avenues.
Earlier suspect
About 7:30 a.m., police surrounded two apartments at 30 and 38 Shields Road in Boardman. They were believed to be the apartments of a different suspect and a girlfriend. Police evacuated apartment dwellers nearby while awaiting warrants to search the two apartments.
People evacuated from the apartments were questioned by police about what one officer called "tremendous activity" in the apartment building about 1:30 a.m. today. Police later learned that the suspect was already in jail on another case.
Trouble with the law
Koliser is no stranger to life on the lam, said Sheriff's Maj. Michael Budd. In 1992, Koliser was sought by police after escaping from Girard Municipal Court. Koliser was in court after he was accused of having a loaded, semiautomatic handgun on the floor of the car he was driving.
Police said that a man identified as Koliser later took a woman's car from the lot of the former Nemenz Foodland on U.S. 224 in Boardman. A Boardman police officer spotted the car and chased it until the driver crashed inside Mill Creek Park.
The driver fled.
Koliser surrendered to police about a week after he escaped. The Vindicator could not determine the outcome of his case this morning.
Budd added that Koliser also served 30 days in jail on charges of disorderly conduct and failure to desist in 1991.
Involved in search
Units from the following departments were involved in the search: Ohio State Highway Patrol, FBI, Mahoning County sheriff's, Mill Creek MetroParks, Lowellville, Struthers, Poland Township, Austintown and Youngstown State University.
K-9 units from Sharon and Sharpsville, Pa., police departments were also helping in the search.
XContributing to the coverage of Officer Michael Hartzell's shooting death were Vindicator staff writers William K. Alcorn, John Goodwin, Ian Hill, JoAnne Viviano, Patricia Meade and David Skolnick.