Man who wounded firefighter gets 3 years added to sentence

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — Stefin L. Gantt, the Warren man sent to prison last fall for shooting an off-duty Youngstown firefighter inside the firefighter’s East Side home in November 2007, has received an additional three-year prison sentence for shooting at a Warren police officer.

Gantt, 21, of Garden Street Northwest, pleaded guilty Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to felonious assault on a police officer and improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation.

Gantt had to be brought back from Lorain Correctional Institution for the hearing.

Warren police said Gantt fired a shot in the direction of Warren Patrolman Jeff Miller when the officer was responding to a report of a man with a firearm in the 1500 block of North Park Avenue on Feb. 25, 2007.

Judge John M. Stuard accepted Gantt’s guilty plea and sentenced him to six years in prison, including three for using a firearm while committing the crimes.

Three of the six years will be served at the same time as the six-year sentence Gantt received in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for shooting Andre Johnson in the basement of Johnson’s North Fruit Street residence.

The other three years will be served in addition to the six-year Mahoning County sentence.

Youngstown police said they believe Gantt was at Johnson’s house to buy drugs. That led to Johnson’s being fired from his firefighting job and a conviction on a misdemeanor charge of attempted possession of drugs.