Youngstown police investigating shooting of teen on South Side

YOUNGSTOWN — A 17-year-old South Side boy has been hospitalized with a gunshot wound after a large fight between juveniles on the South Side.

Police were sent to the area of Palmer Avenue and Beechwood Place late Sunday for reports of a large fight in progress. Callers said the fighters seemed to be moving along Beechwood between Palmer and Roxbury avenues.

Neighbors and witnesses told police there was an exchange of gunfire between two male juveniles. There were reportedly about eight shots fired before the 17-year-old pulled down his pants and inspected a gunshot wound to his lower extremities.

The boy was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center by his mother’s boyfriend.

The boy was in stable condition and able to give police a statement at the hospital. He told police he was fighting with another boy he could not identify before he was shot by someone he also could not identify.

The boy’s mother spoke to officers at the hospital and said she believes her son knows who shot him, but is refusing to identify the person. Police did take a gunshot residue test of the shooting victim’s hands, but the results of that test have not been made public.