Man arrested after firing shot, choking girlfriend

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

An Irma Street man was arrested late Tuesday morning after police say he tried to choke his girlfriend and fired a handgun in their home.

Officers were called to 3618 Irma on the South Side about 11:40 a.m., where a woman told them her live-in boyfriend, Steven Baddeley, 28, had threatened to kill her.

Reports said Baddeley and his girlfriend had argued Monday, and she had left the home but came back Tuesday. The pair argued before she went to take a shower and he grabbed his girlfriend’s 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and pointed it at her in the shower and threatened to kill her if she left, reports said.

Baddeley then put the gun behind his head and fired a round, which ricocheted off a wall and landed at her feet, reports said.

Reports said Baddeley ran to an attic to hide the gun. A witness called 911 and left the phone on as Baddeley began choking his girlfriend and threatening her, reports said.

When officers arrived, Baddeley was crying and he told police where he hid the gun, reports said. Police found the gun with the magazine half-loaded, and although they were told only one shot was fired, they found a second shell casing on the steps leading to the attic.

Baddeley was taken to the police station and complained of being ill because he was going through drug withdrawal, reports said. He was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment.

After he is released, he will be taken to the Mahoning County jail on a charge of felonious assault.