DRIVE-BY SHOOTING Prosecutors drop charges against 2

The charges will remain against a third man.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Prosecutors have dropped charges against two of three suspects indicted in a fatal drive-by shooting, and will instead use them as witnesses against a third suspect.
"We have realized that they are more worthy as state's witnesses, so we have struck a deal to have them testify against the remaining codefendant," said Assistant Prosecutor Jay Macejko.
In April, a county grand jury indicted Eric Van Cobb, 25, of Madison Avenue, Campbell, and Atiba Collier, 27, of Morely Avenue, Campbell. Each man faced charges of murder, attempted murder and felonious assault.
About the case
They were accused of participating in a July 10, 1999, drive-by shooting on West Glenaven Avenue that left 25-year-old Sylvester Patterson dead and two other men injured.
Witnesses said Patterson had just returned from Florida, where he'd gone to pick up his son, and was standing outside the West Glenaven Avenue home with some friends. As the men were talking, a car sped past and its occupants opened fire.
Patterson was shot in the head and died. Eric Little and Anthony Floyd, both of Youngstown, were shot but survived.
A third suspect, Teangelo Stores, 24, of Campbell, also was indicted on charges identical to Collier and Van Cobb's. Stores has been in prison since January 2001 on an unrelated drug conviction.
Macejko said evidence "is more supportive of Stores' direct involvement," and that statements given by Van Cobb and Collier support that theory. He would not elaborate because the case against Stores still is pending.
A pretrial is set for October in Stores' case. There is no trial date set.
"The government did the right thing in this case. They had the courage to dismiss these charges even though it's politically unpopular to dismiss murder charges," said Van Cobb's lawyer, Ronald Yarwood. "The evidence just wasn't there against these men."
Fourth man charged
A fourth suspect also was charged in the shooting and is already in prison.
Leroy Gore Jr., 31, pleaded guilty in April to involuntary manslaughter, which was reduced from murder. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Collier's attorney, James Gentile, said Gore gave a statement to authorities before he was sentenced in which he implicated Collier, Van Cobb and Stores in the shooting, and the indictments were based on that statement.
But Gentile said Collier and Van Cobb gave statements to police shortly after the shooting five years ago and were not charged then.
"They had been treated all along as witnesses, not suspects, until Gore gave that statement," Gentile said. "Then the prosecutor's office looked into it further and realized that these charges were not warranted."
bjackson@vindy.com