Two young men found shot to death

Detectives had crimes scenes on Park Vista and Atkinson avenues.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A white sheet draped by police over a chain-link fence concealed the bodies of two young men found shot to death behind a vacant East Side house.
The sheet remained in place while crime lab officers Robert Mauldin and John Patton processed the scene as the sun started to set Saturday evening. The names of the men, each believed to be 18 to 21, were not released by press time.
The call to 911 at roughly 6:40 p.m. reported gunfire on Park Vista Drive. The dead men were found behind 1630 Park Vista, a small one-story yellow house with a no-trespassing sign tacked to a tree.
Police said the inside of the house was riddled with bullets.
A next-door neighbor said she heard gunfire, three to four shots at first, then maybe three to four more. She's the one who called 911.
"There's so many shootings around here," the woman said, standing in a crowd of onlookers positioned behind cruisers. "I saw young boys running, then I ducked."
She didn't see in which direction the young men ran. When it was safe, she went to the rear yard to see if she recognized the victims. She didn't.
She said the man who stayed at the house recently moved out. Her house was shot up not long ago, she added.
Processing the scene
A dog barked constantly as Mauldin and Patton processed the scene. Patton placed numbered yellow placards on the sloping driveway to mark casings. He placed seven markers and took photographs.
Detective Sgt. Doug Bobovnyik said both men apparently been had shot in the head. No identification was found on either victim.
"We get a lot of calls for gunfire," Bobovnyik said, describing the neighborhood.
Lt. Thomas Mylott and Detective Sgts. John Kelty and Rick Spotleson were called to the scene. Patrol officers blocked off Park Vista to through traffic.
A man in the rear of a cruiser was taken downtown for questioning. His mother kept screaming that her son had nothing to do with what happened.
Kelty, after writing down a description of each victim, approached the crowd that had formed in the street to see if the descriptions would trigger an identification. No one seemed to know the victims.
Looking for nephew
Shortly after 8, though, a man approached the crime scene looking for his nephew. Detectives led him to the back yard to view the bodies.
"It's him!" the man yelled and took off running toward Atkinson. Police followed him.
Two gray coroner's vans removed the bodies at 8:14 p.m.
At 1745 Atkinson, detectives found another -- and possibly the first -- crime scene. Bobovnyik said it's possible the young men found shot to death on Park Vista ran from the house on Atkinson.
Mauldin, wearing blue latex gloves, as he had at the murder scene on Park Vista, entered the house on Atkinson.
The dead men are the city's 10th and 11th homicide victims this year. At this time last year, the city had recorded 12 homicides.
meade@vindy.com