Man shot and killed on Ohio Avenue

The victim’s name wasn’t released pending notification of family.

YOUNGSTOWN — Jacquie DeGuntisboth was washing dishes and watching the Cleveland Browns game inside her Ohio Avenue home Sunday when she heard what sounded like an object striking metal.

She learned later that the city’s 29th homicide happened next door and that the noise she heard was likely gunshots.

“My son called me from a friend’s house, and he said he heard about a homicide on Ohio,” DeGuntis said.

That’s when she looked out the window and saw all of the police cars.

DeGuntis said she just moved into the neighborhood recently and this is the first trouble she’s aware of.

Police weren’t releasing the name of the victim until family have been notified but said he was a black man. They got a call of gunfire between 6 and 6:30 p.m.

“When patrol officers arrived, the front door was open and the victim was inside,” said Capt. Kenneth Centorame.

The man had been shot, and no one else was inside.

“We have a number of people to talk to,” the captain said. “We’ll be talking to some neighbors.”

The Ohio Avenue building consists of an upstairs apartment, 2325 Ohio, and a downstairs apartment, 2323 Ohio, where the man was found.

Centorame said police aren’t sure if the victim lived in the apartment.

A woman at the scene collapsed into the arms of a friend after speaking to a police officer.

“My baby, my baby,” she cried as a man and another woman led her away.

DeGuntis described the apartment’s occupants as college students who sometimes played football with her son.

Sunday’s homicide marks the city’s 29th of this year. At this time in 2006, the city had recorded 26 homicides and a total of 32 through that year.