Authorities investigate double homicide

The two murder victims were shot in the face.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — A man doing construction work at a vacant South Side home discovered the bodies of two murder victims in a sports-utility vehicle.

Found shot to death Wednesday in a green Ford Explorer SUV outside 542 W. Ravenwood Ave. were Julien M. May, 22, and Michael D. Pippin, 49, both of East Evergreen Avenue in Youngstown, according to police.

Also later Wednesday, police said Brandon J. Ravnell, 20, of Cornell Avenue in Youngstown, was shot three times in May’s home. When asked by police if his shooting was related to the earlier murders, Ravnell shook his head no.

When the man who found May and Pippin dead telephoned police at 1:16 p.m., it was the fourth time officers were called to the 500 block of West Ravenwood Avenue on Wednesday.

Officers were called three times to the area in a six-minute span beginning at 3 a.m.

According to a police report:

U The first call was for a “fight with weapons.”

U The second was for a “suspicious green SUV-type vehicle parked” in the area with two people inside.

U The third was for another “fight with weapons” that was “cleared with a domestic report.” The report also states, “It is unknown at this time if that call is related to [the] homicides.”

Officers didn’t respond to the second call, the report states, because it was “cleared as a duplicate call.”

Officers investigating the double homicide couldn’t be reached Wednesday to comment.

The SUV was blocking the driveway to 542 W. Ravenwood. A man, whom police didn’t identify in the report, wanted to pull into the driveway to do work to the house. He beeped his horn repeatedly for the vehicle to move, but it didn’t.

The man pulled up next to the snow-covered SUV and, after seeing the driver, later identified as May, slumped over, drove to a store and called police.

May and Pippin were shot in the face, according to the report.

No arrests have been made as of late Wednesday.

There was no snow under the vehicle, indicating it was there for several hours, the report states.

With these two deaths, the city has recorded 36 homicides so far this year. There were 32 homicides in the city last year.

Police received a call from a clerk at Jordan’s Market on Market Street about 7:15 p.m. that a man — later identified as Ravnell — was on the store’s floor bleeding and coughing up blood.

About a minute before that, officers received a call of gunfire at May’s home.

Ravnell acknowledged he was shot there, but shook his head no when asked if it was related to the double murder, according to a police report. An officer asked Ravnell who shot him. The victim responded, “I ain’t goin’ out like that,” according to the report.

Ravnell was in stable condition late Wednesday at St. Elizabeth Health Center recovering from gunshot wounds to his chin, left leg and right hand.

After being shot, Ravnell got into an Oldsmobile and drove to the store. When police arrived at the business, the driver’s side of the vehicle and the center of its front seat were covered in blood. Ravnell asked the store clerk to call the police because he was shot.

Police said the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department has a warrant for Ravnell’s arrest on a felony bribery charge.