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Man shot Sept. 15 dies of wounds
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man who was wounded in a shooting Sept. 15 has died.
Jessie Daviduk, 21, who has a Glenwood Avenue address listed in court records, was taken off life support Thursday at St. Elizabeth Health Center, where he had been since he was shot in the back of the head.
His death is the city’s 11th homicide of the year.
Police said he was shot in the back of a van during a drug deal that went sour about 9:30 p.m. Sept. 15 at South and Dewey avenues.
A 16-year-old is being held on attempted-murder charges in the shooting. Capt. Brad Blackburn, chief of detectives, said investigators will confer with prosecutors, but he expects the charge to be amended to aggravated murder.
Blackburn said there are no other suspects in the case, and the motive appears to be robbery.
The driver of the van told police he picked up Daviduk in Struthers, then they used the victim’s phone to arrange to buy drugs at the intersection, reports said. When they arrived, two men were waiting, and one male jumped in the van and sat behind Daviduk.
The male who jumped in the van pulled a semiautomatic handgun and said, “I want everything.” The victim turned around, and the person with the gun shot Daviduk, reports said.
The driver of the van drove away after he heard the gunshot, reports said. The gunman jumped out of the moving van, which the driver was driving to the hospital with Daviduk.
Several minutes later, an ambulance crew found a 16-year-old male lying in the middle of Dewey Avenue near the intersection unconscious, reports said. That person is the suspect.
In 2013, Youngstown had 20 homicides. At this point last year, there were 12 homicides.