Arrest made in Warren shooting death

WARREN — Though few people came forward immediately with an eyewitness account of the early Saturday killing of Derek Thrash in the parking lot of the Big Apple Convenient Mart, “public cooperation” did help police on Monday to arrest James E. Dotson Jr., 27, and charge him in the killing.

Dotson, of Idylwild Street Northeast, was apprehended at his home at about 8 p.m. He will be arraigned on one count of murder at 1:30 p.m. today in Warren Municipal Court.

Dotson was sentenced to prison in 1999 for shooting another man in the eye in Comstock Park on Comstock Avenue Northeast when Dotson was about 16 years old.

Police believe Dotson was the man who shot Thrash, 20, of Southern Boulevard Northwest, in the chest at about 2:40 a.m. Saturday. Witnesses indicated that roughly100 people were in the parking lot of the Big Apple and adjacent Pit Stop Food Mart, both on Youngstown Road Southeast, at the time of the shooting.

Thrash received a ride to Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital and was pronounced dead there a short time later.

For the complete story, see Wednesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com