East Side man shot to death in car

The victim, released from prison in July, was out on bond in a drug case.

YOUNGSTOWN — In trouble at 16, dead at 23.

Lamont M. “Boo” Belcher of Willis Avenue was found shot to death in a car in the 200 block of Byron Street on the East Side late Monday night.

He is the city’s second homicide victim in two days, and the 26th so far this year. On Sunday night, Elmer Antonio Avilez-Landaverde was found shot to death behind his residence at 1504 Shehy St., also on the East Side.

Police who were called to the scene on Byron around 11:20 p.m. Monday found Belcher parked in the driveway of a woman friend’s house with the Chevrolet Camaro’s engine running. He was slumped over the driver’s seat with a bullet wound to the neck and blood on his face, reports show.

The rear and front passenger-side windows had been shot out, and several casings were found near the vehicle.

Detective Sgt. John Patton said no motive has yet been established. “Nobody saw anything,” Patton said.

Yashira Martinez described Belcher as a friend, not a boyfriend. The 25-year-old Byron Street woman said she didn’t know Belcher was outside in her driveway. She was watching TV with her brother when she heard gunshots.

“I thought somebody was shooting at my house. I took my kids to the basement,” Martinez said. “I was afraid for my life, for my kids. I was laying down, I didn’t see anything.”

When police arrived, Martinez said she went outside and saw her friend dead in the car. She hadn’t been expecting him to visit.

Family members at Belcher’s home on Willis said they didn’t want to talk about what happened.

Belcher was released from prison in July and placed on three years’ supervision to the Ohio Adult Parole Authority. In January 2004, after pleading guilty to beating his ex-girlfriend, possession of cocaine and OxyContin, and attempted robbery (amended from robbery), he was sentenced to four years in prison, with credit for more than six months spent in jail, records show.

Court records show Belcher was arrested on two drug possession charges (crack cocaine and heroin) last month in Youngstown and had a bail-bondsman post his $27,500 bond. He was due back in municipal court Thursday for a preliminary hearing.

Vindicator files show Belcher, when 16, was charged with two other boys in the beating and robbery of an 83-year-old South Side man and theft of a car from a married couple. The charges against Belcher were dropped when prosecutors determined he did not participate in the robberies. He drove and crashed the stolen car during a police chase, according to newspaper files.

The other two defendants, now 23, are in prison until 2085.