Killings surpass total for last year

At this time last year, the city had recorded 13 homicides.
By SEAN BARRON
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Homicides in the city continue to mount with the death of a South Side man Sunday, the fifth victim recorded over the past week.
Police found Harold Dennis, 48, who lived in the 300 block of Glenwood Avenue, lying face down in the 200 block of Willis Avenue on Sunday morning, a police report shows.
The report says police arrived in the area shortly after 9:30 a.m. and discovered what appeared to be gunshot wounds to Dennis' buttocks. Dennis was found with blood in that area as well as near his right hip. The victim also had injuries to both hands.
After the body was removed, police recovered a bullet near the victim's head as well as three spent 9 mm shell casings close to his feet, the report says. The crime lab collected the evidence.
About 20 feet from Dennis' body, police also found a pile that contained a tan hat, black-rimmed glasses, a matchbook and a bus pass bearing his name. A pocket on Dennis' pants appeared to have been turned inside out, police said.
A man who lives near where the body was found told police his wife heard three gunshots several hours earlier, but that she did not look out the window to see what was going on, the report says.
Also on the scene were homicide detectives, Rural Metro Ambulance and an investigator from the Mahoning County coroner's office.
As of late Sunday, police had no suspects in the shooting.
Homicide count
With four months remaining in this year, Dennis' killing is Youngstown's 23rd homicide, which surpasses the number of killings for all of last year. The city recorded 22 homicides in 2004, with 13 at this time last year.
The first half of August has been particularly deadly in the city. Also killed this month were:
* Harold Schuler, 40, of Cleveland Street, who was found Wednesday in the back yard of a Falls Avenue residence after being shot to death. His brother, Elbert Schuler, 42, is charged with murder.
* James Rowles, 66, who was shot in the head and found Wednesday in his Trussit Avenue home after it was burned. Police said robbery was the motive.
* Michael Olenik, 28, of Thalia Avenue, Boardman, who was shot to death shortly before 11 p.m. Aug. 8. Olenik was found in his vehicle near East Federal and Boardman streets in the downtown area.
* Sierra Slaton, 19, of Vestal Road, who was shot once and was found floating in McKelvey Lake on the city's East Side around 6:30 p.m. Aug. 7. Slaton's mother reported her missing the day before.