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Convictions, probation precede Cedric Robinson’s shooting death
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Robinson
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McQueen
YOUNGSTOWN
The 19-year-old South Side man shot dead during an argument was no stranger to law enforcement, as he was listed as a suspect or person of interest in a list of crimes.
Cedrick Robinson, 19, of East Florida Avenue, died Thursday morning after being hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the head Wednesday. He reportedly was arguing and tussling over a gun on West Lucius Avenue with 20-year-old Lamont McQueen of West Lucius Avenue when the shooting took place.
McQueen is in custody and scheduled to be arraigned today, but it is unclear exactly what charges he will face. He was carrying two small bags of suspected marijuana when arrested.
Police said Robinson was a person of interest in the Jan. 28 murder of Carlos Crues Jr., 17, who was gunned down leaving a party on the city’s East Side. Police believe Robinson had been responsible for threatening potential witnesses in that shooting.
Theresa Robinson, Cedrick Robinson’s mother, was too shaken by the news of her son’s death to speak at length Thursday, but she did say her son should not have been mentioned as a person of interest in any shootings.
“He was nowhere near that [Crues murder] situation,” she said.
Police reports, however, indicate that Robinson was a known figure to local law enforcement long before officers found the wounded teen in the South Side driveway. He has reports of criminal activity going back to when he was 13.
Capt. Mark Milstead said the department has had problems getting witnesses to come forward and testify in cases involving Robinson. Police believe he would threaten and scare potential witnesses into not coming forward.
According to police reports, Robinson was 13 when he and several other juveniles were arrested for breaking into Ludt’s Towing on East LaClede Avenue. The group of teen boys reportedly caved in the roof of one car, damaged several other cars and rifled through the vehicles before being chased down by police.
When he was 14, Robinson and a 13-year-old boy were arrested after police say they were caught randomly firing a handgun at the corner of East Boston Avenue and Rush Boulevard in the middle of the day. The boys told police, after officers chased them down, that they purchased the gun on the street and the ammunition at a pawn shop.
Reports say a 15-year-old Robinson, accompanied by a group of juveniles, went to the East Philadelphia Avenue home of another juvenile asking the boy to come outside and fight. When the boy refused to come out of the house, Robinson reportedly pulled out a black handgun and threatened to kill the boy then come back and “shoot everyone in the house.”
The boy’s mother told police she had had several problems with Robinson including slashed tires and damage to her swimming pool.
When Robinson was 18, a 15-year-old boy and 23-year-old man told police Robinson and a carload of other men attempted a drive-by shooting on them as they sat on an East Lucius Avenue porch.
The man and teen boy told police a white Cadillac containing the group drove by the house with Robinson and another man hanging out of a window and firing shots. The man and the boy ran into the house without being hit.
Robinson was listed again as a person of interest in a drive-by shooting on East Avondale Avenue also when he was 18. The homeowner told police she believed Robinson was responsible because he had recently pulled a gun on her over a past debt and threatened to shoot up her house because she called police over that incident.
Juvenile court records show convictions for Robinson on vandalism, drug abuse and assault charges for which he received probation in each case.
Robinson is also listed as a victim in several police reports, having been shot in the foot in 2011, shot in the thigh in 2010, and having been shot at in 2009.
Police said McQueen does not have a juvenile record and has no arrests as an adult.