14-year-old girl ‘critical’ after being shot in car

The shooting took place near the Holy Trinity social center.

YOUNGSTOWN — City police are still investigating the apparent drive-by shooting of a 14-year-old girl on First Street.

Misty R. White was in critical condition Sunday night after being shot in the torso while a backseat passenger in a Camaro driven by her 19-year-old uncle.

Police said they found Misty lying on the couch of her grandmother’s home on the 1600 block of First Street bleeding and having difficulty breathing. She appeared to have been shot on the left side of her torso. Police said they saw an exit wound on her right side. She was rushed by ambulance to St. Elizabeth Health Center, where she underwent surgery early Sunday.

Police said the girl’s uncle, Kevin Bacher Jr., told them Misty had been in the back seat of the blue Camaro. There were another male and female in the car who were not hurt. The group was near the parking lot of Holy Trinity social center at Laird and First streets when the shots were fired, Bacher said.

A white sport utility vehicle blocked the road and four black men, with bandannas on their heads and wearing white T-shirts, got out and started firing, Bacher told police.

He backed the Camaro out of the lot and raced up Laird Street and then Second Street in an attempt to get away, police said.

People who live nearby told police that the Camaro was speeding up and down the street and spun around near the church when they heard three shots. They saw the white SUV and heard five more shots, police said.

One witness said there was a man standing on the street during the second round of shots.

Police found bullet fragments in the church parking lot and spent and live rounds from a .40-caliber gun on the 1500 block of First Street.

Police also found bullet holes in the interior and exterior of the Camaro along with bloodstains where Misty was seated.

Police said Misty told them she did not know who shot her.