Wednesday, February 9, 2005
The shooter aimed at a burglar.
YOUNGSTOWN -- After an in-depth investigation, it turns out that shots were not fired at a patrolman at 4:40 a.m. Jan. 30, but at a fleeing burglar, said Detective Sgt. John Kelty.
He said Carlton Curtis, 22, whose last known address was West Princeton Avenue, has been charged with discharging a firearm within city limits. Curtis was expected to turn in himself.
Kelty, who checked 911 tapes of the event, said a woman at 120 West Judson called to report seeing a burglar at 150 West Judson. Kelty said he could hear gunfire in the background. Unknown to the woman, Curtis, who was visiting, was upstairs in her house shooting at the burglar.
The detective said police department crime lab officers used trajectory rods through which laser beams pass to determine the flight path of the bullets. The investigation revealed that the shots came from 120 West Judson, he said.
The patrolman who responded to the burglary-in-progress call had parked his cruiser on West Judson and began to make his way toward the house being burglarized. When the shots rang out, the officer took cover behind a tree in the front yard and notified the police dispatcher of the emergency.
The officer said six shots were fired at him from a rear yard and he could hear the bullets flying past his head when he took shelter behind the tree. The officer did not return fire. Police searched the rear yard and discovered that the suspect had been lying in wait by a vehicle.
Boardman police aided in the search. Tracks in the snow led to Hillman Street. A house in the 3800 block of Hillman was also hit by the gunfire.
Police found the house at 150 West Judson had a broken window and tracks in the snow all around it.