Tuesday, September 27, 2005
One suspect has a separate gun charge pending in municipal court.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Teenage cousins Alonzo Thigpen and Durral L. Justice are charged in the shooting death of a 53-year-old man.
Ralph Miller, of East Wood Street, was shot dead around 9 p.m. Sept. 8 at the home of an elderly couple on Nelson Avenue. Miller served as a caregiver for the 92-year-old man who has Alzheimer's disease.
Miller's companion, Charles Glenn, 44, of Glenwood Avenue, was shot in the face.
Thigpen and Justice, both of Jacobs Road, were arrested Friday. Thigpen, 18, was booked into the Mahoning County jail. Justice, 17, was taken to the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center.
The cousins are charged with aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and aggravated robbery. Thigpen, who was secretly indicted last week, was expected to be arraigned today in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Thigpen faces an unrelated charge of carrying a concealed weapon. Police said they found a loaded .357-caliber revolver in a car Thigpen rode in Friday to juvenile court where he had to appear in a traffic case.
Thigpen was arraigned Monday in municipal court on the gun charge. Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly set bond at $30,000 and a preliminary hearing for Oct. 3.
Thigpen told police he bought the gun from a man on the South Side on Thursday evening and paid between $125 and $150 for it.
What happened
Police said Miller and Glenn were approached in their pickup truck at the Nelson Avenue home by two thin teenage boys wearing do-rags. One had on a yellow shirt, and the other wore black.
The one in black approached Glenn's side of the truck, and the one in yellow approached Miller on the driver's side. The boys asked the men if they had any marijuana; the men said they "don't do weed."
Miller was then told to get out of the truck. Glenn was shot in the face and passed out for a short time. He awoke to see Miller running for the porch.
The boy in black then passed his gun to the boy in yellow, who opened fired on Miller, police were told.
The elderly woman at the house told police she heard gunshots and saw Miller approaching her door, where he fell. Another gunshot shattered her front door glass, and the boy in yellow entered, saying, "Where the hell is the money?"
The elderly woman told the boy there was no money, and he left.
Police collected two .380-caliber casings and two expended bullets from the truck and another casing near the porch.