HOMICIDE Shooting victim targeted earlier

The homicide victim had a loaded gun and 50 rocks of suspected crack.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The first time a gunman tried to kill Jerome R. Miller Jr. -- last month outside Larry's Lounge on Hillman Street -- the bullet missed him by eight inches.
Miller, 31, of Mistletoe Avenue, who was shot to death Sunday, told police Nov. 14 that his car, with him in it, was fired upon in the popular South Side nightclub's parking lot at closing time. Miller said he got into his 1995 Chevrolet Suburban around 2:30 a.m. and heard gunfire.
One round shattered the left rear door window then struck the dashboard and front windshield. He told police the bullet missed him by eight inches.
A second round came through the passenger side rear window. Miller said he didn't see who fired and wasn't having problems with anyone.
The second attempt -- possibly by two shooters -- on Miller's life was successful around 6:20 p.m. Sunday as he sat behind the wheel of a 1995 teal Buick Regal at Gina's Drive-Through on Glenwood Avenue, waiting to place an order. Miller died at the scene in the Buick, where police found him slumped in the driver's seat with no pulse. The engine was running and the radio playing.
What police found
Miller had a loaded .45-caliber handgun concealed in his waistband. Police also found a bag with 50 rocks of suspected crack cocaine in his left coat pocket and cash on the floor near his feet.
Aside from officers on patrol, Detective Sgts. Brad Blackburn and Daryl Martin responded, as did Capt. Robert Kane, chief of detectives, two crime lab officers and a coroner's investigator. At the scene, Kane said at least one masked shooter fired at the car.
Lt. Robin Lees, police department spokesman, said Monday that homicide detectives have a few leads to track down and persons of interest to question.
"This guy had a certain lifestyle that put him in harm's way," Lees said of Miller. "He had a gun and crack in the car."
The scene
The Buick, which crashed through a chain-link fence as Miller tried to escape, was riddled with bullets. Six casings, 9 mm and .40 caliber, signifying the possibility of two gunmen, were found in the drive-through parking lot and collected by crime lab officers.
The owner of Gina's told the first officers on the scene that he saw a man in a brown jacket walk past the drive-through's front door with a gun in his right hand. Thinking the place was about to be robbed, the owner called 911 at 6:19 p.m.
That's when the shots rang out, at least six or seven.
The business owner didn't come out of the store until police arrived at 6:23 p.m.
Police followed fresh tire tracks in a grassy area behind the drive-through. The tracks led to the downed fence and the Buick resting on top of it.
The Buick's rear windshield had been shot out, along with the front driver's side window, passenger's rear side window and vent. Two bullets hit the silver trim near the rear passenger side window and another hit the car body near the window.
Eight bullets had penetrated the back of the driver's headrest and seat, police said. When paramedics moved Miller, they found multiple gunshot wounds to his lower back.
The Buick, registered to a West Side man, was towed and held for detectives.