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Officer put on leave after shooting
YOUNGSTOWN
A Youngstown police officer is on administrative leave while detectives investigate the shooting at a North Side restaurant that left one would-be robber dead.
Police Chief Jimmy Hughes said Officer Michael Walker is on leave. Walker was working an off-duty security detail Friday at Galaxy Seafood on Belmont Avenue when he shot an armed man during an attempted robbery.
Hughes said Walker’s placement on administrative leave is routine and in no way shows any wrongdoing. He said the length of Walker’s leave will depend upon the length of the investigation and any assistance Walker may need in the wake of the shooting.
“We put the officer on administrative leave because it is a traumatic experience on our end,” the chief said. “We want him to be whole, and we do offer employee-assistance up to and including counseling.”
According to police, Walker was working as security at the restaurant when Warren V. Wright, 32, of Logangate Road, followed another man into the business at 6:17 p.m. Reports say Wright pulled out a silver handgun and pointed the weapon at the cashier once he was in the store.
According to police, Walker identified himself as a police officer and ordered Wright to drop his weapon. After identifying himself as an officer, shots were fired, but reports do not say who fired first.
Officers responding to the scene found Wright lying on his back on the floor, dressed in black with a mask covering his face and the handgun nearby. He was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Reports show that at least a dozen customers and witnesses were inside the business at the time of the attempted robbery and shooting, including members of the officer’s family.
Wright had been recently incarcerated and briefly interviewed by The Vindicator shortly before his release from the Ohio State Penitentiary.
At the time of the interview, Wright was taking part in a prison fair in August 2010 that offered inmates information on services available to them upon their release from prison.
Wright was looking at information about job placement and other services.
“I need that when I am getting out of prison,” he told the paper. “I need to find a job when I get out next month.”
Wright, according to Vindicator files, initially had been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the 2000 shooting of a 14-year-old boy. The jury was unable to reach a verdict in his first trial, and a mistrial was declared.
Wright was acquitted of aggravated murder in a second trial but ultimately found guilty of felonious assault. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2001.
The last fatal shooting involving city police was on Jan. 3, 2010. A 37-year-old man was shot and killed by police in a gun battle at Eastway Apartments on the city’s East Side on that Sunday afternoon. Three police officers opened fire on the man after he shot at them.