Warren police believe 5-year-old shot his aunt

Staff report

WARREN

Police believe a 5-year-old boy shot his 20-year-old aunt with a gun he found on the floor near a backpack in the back of his aunt’s car late Thursday.

Police believe the boy fired the gun through the seat and into his aunt’s torso.

Lt. Jeff Cole of the Warren Police Department said Ashlee N. Austin of Woodbine Avenue Southeast suffered the gunshot wound while inside her car, but it’s unclear where the car was when the shooting took place.

Austin was taken to St. Joseph Health Center and then transferred to St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown.

A spokesman for Humility of Mary Health Partners said the hospital cannot release information on Austin because the hospital does not give out information on gunshot victims.

Police said the injury wasn’t believed to be life-threatening.

A police report lists the name of a 19-year-old Northwest Boulevard woman as a witness and two children — a 5-year-old boy and a 7-month old girl — as “additional persons.”

Police responded to 2475 Northwest Blvd. for the 9:11 p.m. incident. The car Austin was driving was a blue 2000 Pontiac two-door.