Argument and chase preceded killing of three

YOUNGSTOWN — An argument that began at Helen Moore’s house was followed by a vehicular pursuit over the city’s East Side streets and the firing of a single shot that killed Moore, her nearly full-term fetus, and her 8-year-old son, Ceonei, the opening witness testified today in the capital murder trial of Curtis Young.

Moore’s daughter, Ashley, 13, a backseat passenger in the car Moore was driving, was the prosecution’s first witness today in Young’s jury trial, which is before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

The pursuit began at Moore’s Cassius Street house and ended at Young’s Center Street residence, where Young, 26, fired the shot that passed through the 29-year-old Moore’s neck and lodged in Ceonei’s head.

The prosecution is calling the July 31, 2007, slayings purposeful, but the defense is arguing that Young fired in self-defense as Moore tried to run him over with her car.

Ashley testified she saw Young, who was her mother’s ex-boyfriend, enter his residence for “about a second” and then emerge from the house.

“When he gets up to our car he pulls out a gun,” Ashley told Robert J. Andrews, assistant county prosecutor.

“He argued with her for a second and then he shot the gun,” Ashley testified.

Ashley then recalled the car leaving the road and flipping on to its side with her aunt, Mary Moore, helping others get her and her younger sister out of the car’s back seat.

Firefighters then extricated Helen Moore and her front-seat passenger, Ceonei, from the car.

Ashley, who identified Young in court, testified the car Moore was driving did not move until after the shot was fired.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Douglas B. Taylor, Ashley said she did not recall telling police two hours after the shooting that her mother tried to run over Moore with her car.

However, Taylor then played the video of the interview with police in which Ashley made that statement.

In redirect examination by Andrews, Ashley said Young was along side the driver’s side and not in front of Helen Moore’s car when he fired.

For the complete story, read Tuesday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com