Police investigate rolling gunbattle
Staff Report
YOUNGSTOWN — Police officers are looking for leads and trying to find out what sparked a rolling gunbattle over several South Side streets.
No one was reported injured despite the numerous shots that were fired, police said.
Police were called about 3 p.m. Thursday to the corner of Market Street and Florida Avenue. They were searching for a white sport-utility vehicle and a blue sedan. They found 16 shell casings in the intersection, and one bullet entered a tavern on Florida.
Two city men, however, witnessed the gunbattle between two vehicles north of that location.
Marcus Thomas, 23, and Vince Johnson, 20, said they were traveling south on Hillman Street when a gunbattle started there.
They were in a car on Hillman, headed south to their South Side homes, when they noticed a white SUV behind them. They said a blue sedan pulled out from Philadelphia Avenue behind the SUV and a person inside the car began to fire at the SUV.
A passenger in the SUV then hung out the window and fired back, they said.
The two vehicles were swerving all over the road, the witnesses said.
“It was like Iraq on Hillman,” Thomas said.
Thomas looked out the window, making eye contact with the SUV’s shooter, and then ducked behind a car seat.
Johnson, the driver, said he saw flashes of the cars weaving on either side of the road and heard at least 15 shots fired.
“The guys were unloading on each other,” Johnson said.
The two witnesses said they don’t understand the violence.
“I don’t know what people are being killed for around here,” Thomas said.
After arriving at Market and Florida to begin their investigation, officers noticed smoke near the scene and got a call saying there was more gunfire and a car had been set on fire on Avondale Avenue, a few blocks away.
Police don’t know if the car fire was tied to the two-vehicle shootout.
Police blocked traffic on Market and Florida for a short time while they investigated the matter.