Man held in shooting of juvenile

YOUNGSTOWN — A city man is being held in the Mahoning County jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond in connection with a shooting that took place earlier this month.

Cornel Kennedy, 24, of Seneca Street was arraigned before Magistrate Anthony Sertik in the Youngstown Municipal Court Thursday morning. He is charged with felonious assault stemming from a May 19 incident where a juvenile was shot in the shoulder.

During arraignment, prosecutors read a list of firearm and weapon related charges, and other issues in Kennedy’s history. Magistrate Sertik said those factors were considered in the setting of Kennedy’s bond.

Sertik set Kennedy’s bond at $250,000 and ordered that he have no contact with the 17-year-old boy who was shot in the shoulder.

According to police, officers were sent to the intersection of Margaret and Delaware Streets shortly after 5 p.m. May 19 for active gunfire in the area. Witnesses told officers that a white SUV and a silver car were involved in a gun battle.

Officers later went to Forum Health Northside Hospital to speak to the juvenile shooting victim. The teen told police he was leaving a home in the 800 or 900 block of Delaware Avenue when a silver car approached with the driver opening fire on his car.

The car was hit by four bullets along the left side and rear end. Prosecutors said police recovered six casings at the scene of the shooting. The teen drove himself to the hospital after being shot in the shoulder.

The teen victim and a witness reportedly identified Kennedy as the man shooting from the silver car.

Youngstown police and members of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force arrested Kennedy at his home early Wednesday morning. Reports say he was taken into custody without incident.