Separate shootings on South Side leave woman dead, 16-year-old boy wounded
YOUNGSTOWN
Two people were shot in the city Sunday and Monday, with detectives investigating the death of a woman and the wounding of a teenage male.
Police are looking for a truck and two cars in the shooting of the 16-year-old on the city’s South Side.
According to police, the teen was shot just before 3 p.m. Monday on East Avondale Avenue. His name and condition have not been released.
Police reported that one vehicle being sought is an older vehicle with damage, the other is a Buick Rendezvous, and there also may be a truck or another SUV involved.
Police found the victim lying on the porch steps of an East Avondale Avenue home with a gunshot wound to the head, according to the police report.
When police arrived, the victim was conscious and attempting to push himself up the steps, the report said.
Police said he was rushed to St. Elizabeth Health Center, where he underwent surgery.
Meanwhile, officials are not saying much about the circumstances surrounding the Sunday night shooting death of a Berlin Center woman in the Brownlee Woods neighborhood on the South Side.
Police found Erica Elford, 33, dead of a gunshot wound to the head just before 11 p.m. at a home in the 1900 block of Bancroft Avenue. Police arrested 33-year-old Gregory Carlini at the scene.
City Prosecutor Jay Macejko said Carlini will face murder charges.
“The circumstances surrounding her death were highly unusual; however, the cause of her death is clear,” Macejko said.
Police have said Carlini is believed to have been Elford’s boyfriend. Police said there is no reported history of domestic violence between the two. Carlini has a minimal criminal history that includes a theft charge from years ago.
Carlini, with his attorney J. Gerald Ingram, appeared Monday before Magistrate Anthony Sertick of Youngstown Municipal Court for arraignment. Ingram argued his client is no flight risk and has the support of his family, but the magistrate ordered Carlini placed in Mahoning County jail on $1 million bond.
Carlini did have members of his family in court during the hearing, but they did not want to speak with reporters.
Police arrived at Carlini’s South Side home just before 11 p.m. and could see a shirtless Carlini nervously walking around the inside of the house accompanied by two large dogs.
When officers knocked on Carlini’s door, he let the dogs out and then invited officers into the house and told them what led to his girlfriend’s death.
Carlini reportedly told officers that Elford had been playing with his gun and he ended up shooting her.
Officers placed Carlini in custody, then searched the house. They found Elford lying in a bed in a back bedroom, naked with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the mouth. Police found the gun believed to have been used in the shooting and bullets on a kitchen counter.
Capt. Mark Milstead said the investigation continues.
Dr. Joseph Ohr, deputy county coroner, ruled after his autopsy that Elford died instantly of an intra-oral gunshot wound.
She is the city’s fifth homicide victim this year. The city had recorded two homicides at this time last year.