Warren man held after pointing ‘gun’ at kids exiting school bus

Staff report

WARREN

A judge has set bond at $100,000 for a city man charged with disrupting public services, accused of pointing a gun at a Howland school bus Oct. 22 as his son and six other children got off the vehicle.

Stephen W. Strawderman II, 30, of 4047 Fairlawn Heights SE, is in the Trumbull County Jail after a hearing Wednesday in Warren Municipal Court before Judge Terry Ivanchak.

A Howland bus driver reported that he was dropping off seven elementary-school students in front of Strawderman’s house at 4:05 p.m. when he saw Strawderman pointing what appeared to be a black handgun at the seven children as they were getting off the bus.

The driver said the children “ran and scattered in all directions in the yard, and they were screaming, ‘Don’t shoot us with a BB gun, dad,’” according to a police report.

The driver said he heard “clicks” as Strawderman pulled the trigger.

Fairlawn Heights is on the west side of North Road about a mile north of Youngstown Road.

There were about 30 children still on the bus at the time of the incident, the driver said, adding that he would have thought it was a real gun if he hadn’t heard the children say it was a BB gun.

The driver said all seven children live at the house, but he identified only one of them as being Strawderman’s child.

Officers went to Strawderman’s home and spoke with a woman who said she saw the incident. She said Strawderman pointed a toy gun at the kids and the bus, and “it was a joke.” She said Strawderman was not there.

Strawderman called police 15 minutes after they left the home, and he said it was just a toy gun. He was arraigned on the charge Nov. 5 and pleaded not guilty.