43
Police probe city’s 15th homicide of 2010
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
YOUNGSTOWN
Police are trying to determine how a teenager ended up dead from a gunshot wound after a party on the city’s South Side.
Officers were sent to the Lucius Avenue, Cottage Grove and Hilton Avenue areas just after 1 a.m. Sunday to investigate a large fight among juveniles with shots fired.
Police determined that the initial commotion stemmed from a party involving juveniles in the 100 block of East Lucius.
About 10 minutes after responding to the call, officers were sent to the 100 block of East Ravenwood Avenue. There, they they found Terrance T. Howard, 17, of West Princeton Avenue on his back near a fence and partially behind a large shrub.
Reports say officers saw a bullet wound in Howard’s chest. Paramedics determined he was dead at the scene.
A resident of East Ravenwood told police he heard his dogs barking, looked outside and saw Howard on the property. He said he waited about 10 minutes before calling police in hopes that Howard would leave.
A woman living in the Hilton Avenue area told police she heard several kids outside her home then heard a gunshot but did not see anything.
Another resident living in the Hilton area told officers he saw a black male wearing a white shirt and black shorts pointing a silver handgun.
He told officers he heard a shot then heard someone say, “why you do that” as the crowd of juveniles ran away.
Police did find some spots of blood in the area.
Officers determined that Howard had been shot on Hilton Avenue then ran to the East Ravenwood area where he either collapsed or tried to hide behind the large shrub.
Howard is the 15th homicide victim in the city this year. There were 18 homicides in the city at this time in 2009.