CRIME 5-year-old wounded in drive-by shooting

The boy was hit three or four times in the legs.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR POLICE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Bullets shattered an open ambulance door as they sailed over the head of a woman being lowered to the ground in her wheelchair on East Judson Avenue and then hit a 5-year-old boy playing next door.
Nineteen-year-old Willie Oliver III told The Vindicator that he was the likely target of the drive-by shooting midafternoon Tuesday at 573 E. Judson Ave. "I'm so sorry for that little boy, he's got nothing to do with this," Oliver said, leaning over as he tried to calm down.
The victim, Alfonso Flores, was playing outside with his two brothers, ages 2 and 7, police said. He was hit three or four times in the legs around 3:50 p.m. and taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center, where he was in stable condition Tuesday night. It wasn't clear whether he had been hit by bullets or shotgun pellets.
When police arrived, Antonio Flores, 32, was holding towels to his son's bloody legs. The father had been inside the house at 573 E. Judson Ave. and didn't see anything.
His girlfriend, Mary Liller, who owns the house, said she, too, had been inside when the gunfire sounded. She pointed to the blood-stained porch steps, saying that's where the little boy was when he got shot.
A trail of blood led down the steps to the driveway at the small, tan house. Shotgun pellets peppered the peak of the porch roof.
Several shots
Witnesses, including the ambulance driver, reported hearing 10 to 12 shots fired from two or more gunmen. The shooters were in two cars, one maroon and one black, possibly an SUV. The radio operator gave descriptions of the vehicles and instructed officers in the area to check Interstate 680.
The 46-year-old woman in the wheelchair told police she didn't see anything but said glass landed all over her when the ambulance door glass broke. She was visibly shaken by her close call.
"My mom was outside, and she grabbed the other two boys," said Liller, 24. "My two kids weren't here; they left an hour before."
Liller's mother, also named Mary Liller, was being described as a hero by those who gathered near the crime scene, including the elder Liller's two sisters. "She covered the two boys when the third boy got shot -- she saved their lives," said one sister who didn't want to give her name.
The younger Liller described Oliver as a longtime friend.
Brief stop
Oliver said he stopped at Liller's house to use the phone. He said he and Mike Childs, 20, went inside while Oliver's aunt, Alice Williams, stayed in the car. The aunt hit the floor when the shots were fired and didn't see anything, police said.
"As I came back outside, soon as I was about to get in my car, I heard 'bam, bam, bam,'" Oliver said, clutching his chest as he talked, fearing a heart attack. "Somebody had to be following me."
He said he heard two shots -- one flew past his shoulder -- and then he heard more gunfire but was on the run through yards by then. He ran to a gas station to call for help; he didn't know where Childs went.
"I got enemies. I'm beefing with a dude named Paul and other dudes over girls," Oliver said. "People be jealous. Ain't no telling, maybe Mike [Childs] was the target. They was just shooting randomly."
Oliver said when he returned to East Judson, after police arrived, he saw that his car had been shot.
Crime scene
After crime scene tape blocked off the street, a crime lab officer numbered and collected shotgun shells and fragments from the street. He used at least seven yellow and black markers.
The shotgun shells landed not far from the curb, and at least one lay under the Clemente ambulance. A few shell fragments ended up in neighbors' lawns.
Police on the scene said a 9mm, not a shotgun, was used to shatter the open ambulance door. The vehicle was parked in the street, facing east, the wheelchair lift near the sidewalk, facing south.
At least one shooter had to be leaning out of a car as it traveled east on East Judson to hit the door at that angle, police said.
Police Chief Robert E. Bush Jr. came to the scene around 5 p.m. and spoke to some of the witnesses. He ordered that detectives give Oliver a gunshot residue test.
The chief said the 5-year-old boy, from Wooster, was in town visiting his dad over the Easter vacation.