Suspect sought in double homicide

About 11 shots were fired into the car at close range, police said.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The search continued today for a suspect in a double homicide.
Two men were shot to death at 6:10 p.m. Tuesday in a 1992 white Pontiac Bonneville near the intersection of Willis and Overland avenues on the South Side. With the driver dead, the car drifted into the devil strip on Overland.
The victims had no identification on them.
A pedestrian likely fired about 11 shots from an AK-47 assault rifle through the open driver's-side-door window of the Bonneville, killing the driver and front-seat passenger, both thought to be in their late 20s, according to Detective Sgt. Jose Morales.
It appears that all of the gunfire came from the driver's side at close range, with some exit bullet holes in the passenger side of the car, he said. "It looks like it's one shooter," Morales said, adding that how the shooter escaped is unknown.
Shooting victims
One victim was black, thin and 6 feet 1 inch or 6 feet 2 inches tall. The other victim, also black, appeared to be about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighed about 250 pounds. When police arrived, they found the two men slumped over in the front seat of the car, bleeding profusely from head wounds and not breathing, according to a police report. Rural Metro ambulance personnel determined the men, both wearing blue jeans and dark shirts, were dead at the scene.
About 100 people gathered behind yellow crime scene tape at the scene at Willis and Overland avenues, including many children and some apparently distraught friends and relatives of the victims'. Police marked the locations of at least 11 bullet casings on the street, devil strip and a lawn a few feet from where the car containing the victims had come to rest facing the setting sun.
Police Chief Robert E. Bush Jr., detectives and coroner's office staff joined six marked police cars at the scene.
Documenting the shooting by the waning light of day, investigators spent almost two hours taking measurements and photographs before a flatbed tow truck hauled the car away to be impounded. No guns were found in the Pontiac, Morales said.
As coroner's office personnel removed the bodies out of the car to be transported to the morgue, a small bag of suspected crack cocaine was found under the passenger's body, the police report said. Although the victims remain unidentified, police traced the car's license plate to Henry Blue, 37, of Parmelee Avenue.
Unsure of motive
Morales said police weren't sure of the motive and had no suspects in mind. "It could be a robbery," he said.
Neighbors told police they heard about 10 gunshots and saw the Pontiac roll toward the lawn with the two victims inside, but police were unable to find anyone who reported seeing the shooting, he added.
"I'm pretty sure somebody out here saw what happened. We're just hoping that somebody would give us a call and let us know what happened here," Morales said. Perhaps the assailant lives nearby and witnesses living in the neighborhood fear retaliation, he surmised.
"It's their neighborhood. They should learn to take it back. That's the only way we can do it if we get the help from the public. We need their help," Morales said of area residents.