3 wounded in drive-by shooting


The victims were unable to describe the shooters for police.

By Jeanne Starmack

YOUNGSTOWN — As a crowd stood and watched, police searched for shell casings in the middle of Griffith Street on Wednesday after another shooting in the city.

Three men were shot in a drive-by around 5:30 p.m. at 620 Griffith on the city’s North Side. They were taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center, police said, with injuries that were not life-threatening.

They were unable to give police a description of the shooters, saying the whole episode happened quickly.

Shaken neighbors were not eager to talk Wednesday evening. Many in the group said they hadn’t seen anything. One woman reported she heard what she thought was firecrackers. Others said they’d also heard the shots after four men opened fire on the victims.

Adrian Henderson, 31, of First Street and Charles W. Thomas, 43, of Katherine Avenue were standing outside an apartment when a champagne-colored Cadillac with a beige roof drove slowly south on Griffith, police said.

Gregory A. Bankston, 58, of Ohio Avenue was not with the other two men. He was standing by a tree farther down on the sidewalk, police said.

The Cadillac stopped, then rolled up to where Henderson and Thomas were standing, police said.

Two men with covered faces got out of the passenger side and started firing handguns, the report said.

Two other men still in the car on the driver’s side also began shooting at them, the report said.

Henderson was hit in the upper left chest and shoulder. Thomas turned and ran but was hit in the right shoulder.

Bankston was hit twice, possibly from ricochets, police said. He was hit in the lower left leg and right hip.

An ambulance took Thomas and Bankston to St. Elizabeth’s, and Henderson went there in a private vehicle, police said.

Henderson told police that he didn’t recognize the suspects, but he had seen the car before.

Police recovered numerous shell casings in the street, scattered between 30 and 50 feet.