Warren man wounded in thigh


By JOE GORMAN

jgorman@vindy.com

WARREN

A 3-year-old girl was shielded by her mother during a shooting about 10:50 p.m. Thursday that sent a Red Fox Run Drive Northwest man to the hospital.

Police called to 258 Ohio Ave. NW for gunshots found Marlon Jones, 41, in a pool of blood in the kitchen. He was bleeding from a gunshot wound to the inner thigh and was taken to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Police Detective Michael Currington said the investigation still is in its early stages, and police do not have suspects.

Jones’ girlfriend said she was sitting on a couch facing the window with her daughter, and Jones was on a couch across from her, police reports said. She heard gunshots and grabbed her daughter and fell to the floor as Jones was shot, reports said. The girl and the mother were not injured.

Police found several bullet holes inside the home and also found some spent shell casings, police reports said. The glass on the front door also was shattered by a bullet.

Reports said Jones asked for water several times but did not answer when police asked him who had shot him.

Jones’ girlfriend told police he had been feuding with a man for the past couple of weeks.

ValleyCare TMH said he was transferred to another facility.

Bob Weitzel of the Warren Northwest Neighborhood Association said Ohio Avenue is on the fringes of his neighborhood watch’s patrol area, but he said there has been an increase in criminal activity in the northwest portion of town within the last four to six weeks.

“It’s just getting to be too many shootings,” Weitzel said.

He said city officials spoke to the association recently and vowed to keep up an increased police presence with help from the U.S. Marshals and the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

“There’s been a significant increase in patrols,” Weitzel said.

Weitzel said for the most part, the area his association patrols twice a week is quiet except for the area around the Stonegate Apartment complex, which has seen an increase in criminal activity, especially gunfire, during May. He said he worries what will happen when school lets out for the summer.

Police spokesman Lt. Jeff Cole, who is also head of the department’s detective bureau, said investigators are not sure yet if Jones’ shooting is linked to a shooting earlier in the day at 527 Martin St. SW, where a man said someone he knows fired several shots at him and then got in a vehicle and drove away. No one was injured in that shooting.