METRO DIGEST || Shooting in Columbus kills Youngstown man
Shooting in Columbus kills Youngstown man
COLUMBUS
A Youngstown man was shot and killed about 1:40 p.m. Monday on East 25th Street.
A news release from the Columbus Police Department said police were called to an address for a report of a man down and found Brian Austin Jr., 29, lying in the front doorway bleeding from several gunshot wounds. He died just a few minutes after police showed up, the release said.
He was not identified by police until Wednesday. The release says there was no obvious motive for the shooting. Austin’s death is the 35th homicide of the year in Columbus.
Murder suspect moved
YOUNGSTOWN
The man indicted by a grand jury last week for a 1974 triple homicide in Canfield Township was transferred Thursday from the Marion Correctional Institution to the Mahoning County jail.
James Ferrara, 64, is expected to be arraigned next week in common pleas court here for the murders of Benjamin Marsh, 33, his wife Marilyn, 32, and their 4-year-old daughter Heather, on Dec. 14, 1974, in their South Turner Road home.
Ferrara is serving a sentence in Marion for a double homicide in Worthington in 1983.
The Marsh’s 1-year-old son, Christopher, survived the attack unharmed and was later adopted by relatives. Investigators announced last week they were able to link Ferrara to the crime through fingerprints at the crime scene that were resubmitted to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Police find suspects in Milton bank robbery
LAKE MILTON
Police were able to catch two men they say robbed a Farmer’s National bank within minutes of the heist.
Jonathan Eurich and Christopher David Eurich, no ages given, were caught on state Route 534 by a Milton police officer as police were going the opposite direction responding to the call just after 10 a.m.
Witnesses said they wore makeup and a beard when they went inside the bank and robbed it. They were arrested without incident and taken to the Mahoning County jail.
YPD arrests Niles man after traffic stop
YOUNGSTOWN
Police pulled over a driver on Gypsy Lane at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday after noticing suspicious driving patterns and found crack cocaine, powder cocaine and an oxycodone pill in his car.
When officers approached the car, they discovered that the driver, 33-year-old Jason P. Betras of Niles, was sweating profusely, and his eyes were red and dilated. He told police he’d been visiting a friend in the area.
Police then asked Betras if he had anything illegal in his car. Betras gestured that he did, and officers found the crack in a paper bag in the back, powder cocaine and the oxycodone pill in a small compartment next to the steering wheel, and additional powder cocaine under the driver’s seat.
Officers issued him a ticket for a turn signal violation, and arrested him on charges of possession of crack and powder cocaine and dangerous drugs. His car was towed.
Water reports ready
Vienna
Consumer confidence reports for Trumbull County water customers are complete and available at the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineers office, 842 Youngstown-Kingsville Road.
Domestic-violence arrest in Youngstown
YOUNGSTOWN
A Youngstown man was arrested early Thursday and charged with domestic violence with simple assault, accused of punching his live-in-girlfriend in the back of the head, hitting her across the face and throwing her into the bushes after an argument at their High Street home.
The victim called police from a Lakewood residence on the South Side, where they discovered her outside crying, according to a report.
The girlfriend and police went back to the High Street home where police discovered Alexander Blandon, 50, in a closet. Police also discovered Blandon had two active arrest warrants for possession of drugs and driving under suspension.
Home Savings gives
YOUNGSTOWN
The Home Savings Charitable Foundation has donated $30,000 to the American Cancer Society.
The check presentation, made Monday at The Lake Club in Poland, was attended by representatives from Home Savings, including Patrick Bevack, president and chief executive officer, and ACS officials.
Church group to meet
COITSVILLE
The focus group working on repurposing Coitsville Presbyterian Church will meet at 11 a.m. Saturday at the church, 91 Coitsville-Hubbard Road. The church closed in April.
Suspicious house fire
CAMPBELL
Shortly after 12:30 a.m. Thursday, firefighters responded to a two-alarm house fire at 524 Devitt Ave., which had been vacant for two years.
Crews arrived just minutes after neighbors called in the fire, but the first floor “was totally burnt out” by that time, said Capt. Eugene Skelley. Firefighters worked to put out the fire in the two-story house until about 4 a.m. Skelley said the blaze was “definitely suspicious.”
According to the Mahoning County Auditor’s office website, the six-room structure was built in 1911, and it was valued at $27,070.
Woman reports theft
YOUNGSTOWN
A 69-year-old Irma Street woman said two men broke into her home at about 11:15 p.m. Wednesday and stole $2,100.
The woman said the men came through an unlocked sliding-glass door and asked her where her money was before they went through several cabinets and drawers. They found $2,000 in a filing cabinet and another $100 in the her purse, according to reports.
Officers could find no signs of the men when they arrived. Reports said papers and other items were strewn throughout the home as if someone was rummaging through them.
Downtown disorder
YOUNGSTOWN
A 49-year-old man was jailed on resisting arrest and disorderly conduct charges at about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday after police say he threatened employees of a 116 W. Federal St. store and shouted racial slurs at them.
Reports said officers were called there because the man, Benjamin Perry, walked into the store and became irate when employees refused to serve him because he had thrown change at an employee a few days ago and threatened her.
Perry at first refused to provide identification but eventually did. He was arrested after he continued using foul language even after being asked to stop, and he smelled of alcohol, reports said. He resisted efforts to be handcuffed, taking two officers to do so. He was taken to Mahoning County jail pending arraignment today.
Cop stop yields heroin
YOUNGSTOWN
Police who pulled over a driver for not using his turn signal about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday on the South Side found three bags of suspected heroin in his gas cap lid.
Officers pulled over a car driven by 55-year-old David Pope at Sheridan Road and Powers Way. When they did a records check, they found he had 10 open suspensions on his license.
After he was taken out of the car and searched, officers found two bags of suspected marijuana in a pill bottle in the car as well as the suspected heroin in the gas cap lid.
Pope was booked into Mahoning County jail on charges of possession of a controlled substance, possession of dangerous drugs heroin and driving under suspension. He is expected to be arraigned today in Youngstown Municipal Court.
East Side man faces burglary charge
YOUNGSTOWN
Police arrested a man on a charge of aggravated burglary at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on the East Side after a woman said a pair of men ran through her house and fired a shot before running away.
Reports said a woman who lives on North Garland Avenue told police Desaun Williams, 19, and another man ran into her house looking for a man who was there. The woman told police the man was visiting the mother of Williams’ child, and Williams was upset about that, according to reports.
Williams and the other man ran away, and police found Williams, who matched the description of one of the two men, on Berkley Avenue, where he was taken into custody.
Police found a 9mm semiautomatic handgun wrapped in a shirt about 20 yards from where Williams was arrested. He was booked into the county jail.
Aid for Trumbull elderly
WARREN
The Trumbull Memorial Health Foundation, a supporting organization of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, presented a $35,000 check to the Avamar Foundation on Thursday. The donation will support the foundation’s mission to help the disadvantaged elderly in Trumbull County pay for prescription medication.