Police continue probe of slaying

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

Police are questioning witnesses to the shooting.

YOUNGSTOWN — City police continue to look for suspects in the city’s third homicide this year and the second in the last week.

Rodney Weaver, 25, of Catalina Avenue, was pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth Health Center just before 10 p.m. Tuesday. Weaver was found lying on the ground in front of a Lexington Avenue home covered in blood from a gunshot wound.

According to police, Weaver likely was shot at another location before running to the Lexington Avenue area and collapsing. Officers followed footprints and spots of blood in the snow to an area in the 300 block of Broadway, where the shooting is believed to have taken place.

Officers found several large shell casings in the 300 block of Broadway.

Officers spoke with a man who was with Weaver at the time of the shooting. The man told police he and Weaver went to a house in the 300 block of Broadway, and Weaver knocked on the door. A short time later, a car pulled up to the house with another man from inside the car going to the front door.

The witness told police Weaver came back to the car, and an unidentified man walked up — either from the house or the second car — and demanded all of Weaver’s money. The shooting took place shortly thereafter.

A man living in the home told police he had friends parked outside when the shooting took place. He said he did not see who did the shooting but told officers he was told that someone tried to rob an individual outside the house.

The homeowner also was able to tell police where a car driven by Weaver and the witness was parked. Officers found the car parked on Halleck Street.

Police are questioning all those present at the time of the shooting. They also took possession of a shotgun from the house at which the shooting took place.

There were no homicides in the city at this time in 2009.

jgoodwin@vindy.com