Cops issue warrant in murder case

October 28, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Police have a suspect in custody in the city’s 13th homicide of 2014.

A warrant was issued for 25-year-old Keith Sims of Ford Avenue in the Saturday evening shooting death of 23-year-old Shaniece Wells of Maplewood Court. Sims turned himself in to police about 8 p.m. Monday. He will be arraigned Wednesday in municipal court.

Chief of Detectives Capt. Brad Blackburn said Wells was shot about 11:20 p.m. Saturday at an 884 E. Boston Ave. home and then driven to St. Elizabeth Health Center Boardman Campus on Market Street. She was transferred to the St. Elizabeth main facility on Belmont Avenue, where she died.

Blackburn said the shooting stemmed from an argument Sims had with a man earlier in the evening, and that Wells was part of a group of women who went looking for Sims at the East Boston Avenue home. The group of women was unhappy with how the argument turned out.

Blackburn said investigators still do not know what the original argument was about. He said the argument took place at the East Boston Avenue home and that Sims was known to stay there.

Wells and the group she was with were leaving when she was shot, Blackburn said.

Blackburn said detectives questioned several people after the shooting and on Sunday, and they have statements from witnesses saying that Sims was the person who fired the shot.

A check of court records shows that Sims has a misdemeanor domestic-violence charge from 2012 in municipal court. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years’ probation and a fine. He also was arrested on a driving-under-the-influence charge in 2013 in Austintown. He pleaded guilty, was fined $130 and sentenced to 90 days in jail with 87 of those days suspended, according to court records.

The last homicide in the city was the death of Lenzie Morgan, 49, who was shot in his Shady Run Road home by a house guest after an argument. Morgan died of his wounds Oct. 15.

At this point in 2013, Youngstown had 14 homicides. The city had a total of 20 homicides for 2013.