Youngstown man charged in slaying
By jeanne starmack
campbell
Police have charged an 18-year-old Youngstown man with the murder of a city resident last summer.
Dreon Williams, who lives on Eliot Lane on Youngstown’s East Side, was in the Mahoning County jail Monday after his arrest Friday.
He is charged with aggravated murder in the slaying of Anthony Harrison, 20, of Chambers Street.
Harrison was shot at 10:15 p.m. Aug. 6 at Tremble Avenue and 13th Street as he walked home after attending a church festival.
Detective Sgt. John Rusnak said police believe the motive was robbery.
A friend who was with Harrison was shot in the leg and survived.
Rusnak said Williams surrendered Friday to authorities at the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center in Youngstown. He was 17 when the homicide took place; his birthday was Wednesday, according to jail records.
Rusnak said that because Williams is now 18, he is in the adult jail. The county prosecutor’s office will have to decide whether to prosecute him as an adult or a juvenile, he said.
The prosecutor on the case could not be reached Monday.
After Harrison’s killing, there was a near-riot at the crime scene as police tried to investigate while dealing with about 70 friends and family members who were angry at them.
The crowd didn’t understand why Harrison’s body wasn’t moved off the street or why police wouldn’t answer questions from family members.
Police were waiting for the arrival of the county coroner, and Rusnak said they needed to keep family members away from the body and focus on their investigation.
Police from six other jurisdictions eventually had to assist with crowd control.
Police searched the area and found two sweat jackets and two handguns behind a building on Tremble. They turned that evidence over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation with the hopes of getting DNA to identify a suspect.
Rusnak said they did get the DNA evidence they needed to identify Williams. He said police aren’t sure there is a second suspect in the case.