Man pleads innocent to charge of murder

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Tyrell Ravnell has pleaded innocent to charges of aggravated murder with a firearm specification and illegal gun possession stemming from the June 20 shooting death of Christian Blackshear, 19, of Wirt Street.

Blackshear was shot in the head at close range with an AK-47 rifle on a sidewalk in the Kirwan Homes housing project in Campbell.

Ravnell, 20, of Halleck Street, was arraigned Tuesday before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who deferred the matter of his bond to Judge John M. Durkin. A tentative trial date of Aug. 30 has been set in Judge Durkin’s court.

Ravnell’s bond had been set at $1 million June 25 in Campbell Municipal Court.

Ravnell was previously charged with murder in the death of a woman who was shot in the Kirwan Homes in February 2008.

Diana Noble, 39, was shot there and drove herself to her Howland home, where she died. Ravnell pleaded guilty in that case to a reduced charge of negligent homicide and improperly handling a gun in a motor vehicle and was sentenced to 304 days in jail.