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Shooting suspect also suspect in robberies
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A suspect in a shooting on the fringes of downtown Monday afternoon also is a suspect in several aggravated robberies in the city, a prosecutor said.
Algernon Franklin, 23, of Redgate Lane, was arraigned Tuesday in Youngstown Municipal Court on a charge of attempted murder in the shooting of a 19-year-old man about 1 p.m. in a parking lot at 224 W. Wood St. .
Magistrate Anthony Sertick set Franklin’s bond at $150,000.
During the arraignment, which was via video hookup from the Mahoning County jail, city Prosecutor Dana Lantz told Sertick the man Franklin is accused of shooting was a friend Franklin was attempting to rob. Franklin also is a suspect in several other aggravated robberies in the Youngstown area.
She said he has a breaking-and-entering adjudication as a juvenile and also has robbery, weapon and receiving stolen property charges in Pennsylvania. Vindicator files show he was arrested on carjacking charges in 2009 in Sharon, Pa.
Lantz did not say how many or where the robberies may have taken place. Detectives investigating the case could not be reached Tuesday. Lantz did say that charges are pending for the aggravated robberies.
Lantz said Franklin fired eight shots at the victim, and the victim was struck several times. The victim was able to say someone named “Al” shot him, Lantz said.
Franklin also had a gunshot-residue test administered. He tested positive for firing a gun, and he had a 9mm handgun on him when he was arrested at the WRTA bus station on West Federal Street. The victim in the shooting was shot with a 9mm, Lantz said.