HOMICIDE Police: Shooting victim had a 'rough record'
Ollie Shuler, killed Wednesday, had been shot two times before.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Ollie Shuler, shot and killed on the South Side, may have been the victim of retaliation, a detective says.
Shuler, 29, who had addresses on Falls Avenue and Cleveland Street, was walking east on Myrtle Avenue late Wednesday afternoon when someone inside a passing car opened fire. Neighbors said they heard three gunshots.
Police found Shuler around 5:30 p.m., collapsed on Myrtle near Franklin Avenue. Shot twice, he died later in surgery at St. Elizabeth Health Center.
Reports show that suspected crack cocaine was found in Shuler's pants pockets at the hospital.
Other shootings
Detective Sgt. Jose Morales said Thursday that Shuler had a "rough record" that involved drugs and robbery. Morales said it's possible that Shuler may have been involved in a recent shooting and was shot in retaliation.
Morales said Shuler had been shot twice before -- in 2002 and 2003. The detective said Shuler didn't cooperate with police in the cases.
Vindicator files show that Shuler was shot in the shoulder and abdomen in January 2003 as he walked in the Rescue Mission parking lot on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. He told police a man dressed all in black approached and opened fire.
No record was found of the 2002 shooting.
Shuler is the city's sixth homicide victim this year. At this time last year, the city had recorded five homicides.