Murder trial witness found shot to death

This is the city's second homicide in two days.
By SARAH WEBER
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The city's latest homicide victim was scheduled to be a witness in a murder trial next week, said Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains.
George Arroyo, 40, of Himrod Avenue, was scheduled to testify in the murder trial of Charles Lynch, who is charged in the March 2005 drive-by shooting of Martin Walker III, 32, in front of F & amp;N Market on Shehy Street on the East Side.
"We're not ruling out any possible motives in this case," Gains said. Police do not have any suspects.
Police arrived at a Himrod Avenue residence shortly before 1:30 a.m. Thursday and found Arroyo lying just inside the back door with a gunshot wound to the face.
A witness who lives at the residence said she went to the store to buy cigarettes at about 12:55 a.m. When she returned home, she found the back door open and Arroyo dead inside. She then ran to a neighbor's house and called police.
Another witness who was at the residence at the time of the shooting said she was in her bedroom upstairs when she heard two shots downstairs, police said. She stayed locked in her bedroom until police arrived because she was afraid to come out.
Area problems
This homicide, the second in two days, brings the total for year in the city to 16. The city had recorded 15 homicides at this time in 2005.
The city's 15th homicide was Wednesday. Markus Smith, 24, of Fruit Street, was a passenger in a car that was shot at several times while stopped at a traffic light on Elm Street around 1 a.m. He died at St. Elizabeth Health Center of a gunshot wound to his back.
Detective Sgt. Rick Alli of the Youngstown Police Department said there will be a staff meeting to discuss the recent homicides as soon as today. He said this would allow detectives to work together to see if they can find connections in any of the cases.
"We're not jumping to any conclusions," Alli said. "Right now we're treating them all as separate investigations."