City’s 30th homicide victim is identified

YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s 30th homicide victim this year is a 22-year-old Atkinson Avenue man named Sydney Wesson.

Police were called around 10:45 p.m. Friday after neighbors heard gunshots and saw Wesson’s body lying on the ground in front of his house at 1734 Atkinson on the city’s East Side.

He had two gunshot wounds to the head and one to the neck, a police report says.

The front door to his residence was halfway open, the report said.

Police checked the residence and determined no one had broken into it, then found they found the person who had called police.

The neighbor said he saw the body as he was returning home. His aunt had heard the gunshots earlier, they said.

They said they did not know Wesson and did not know why anyone would shoot him.

The police report said detectives spoke with other people who indicated they live at the house. No one answered the door there Saturday afternoon.

The police report says Wesson’s car, a Green Oldsmobile Aurora, is missing.

The neighbor who spotted the body said the neighborhood is usually quiet. He and his aunt did not want to give their names.

There were 27 homicides by this time last year. There were 32 homicides in the city in 2006.