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Man dies after being shot at apartment
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Investigators are consulting with prosecutors to see if any charges should be filed in the shooting death of a man at a South Side apartment complex Monday.
Police said Cory Cracraft, 27, of East Avondale Avenue, died after being shot at an apartment at 838 E. Midlothian Blvd. about 9:35 p.m. His death is the city’s 14th homicide of 2014 and second in three days.
Capt. Brad Blackburn, chief of detectives, said Cracraft came to the apartment complex to visit his estranged wife, who was there with her boyfriend.
The boyfriend, who had a gun, called a friend who lived in the complex to come to help because he was afraid there would be a fight, Blackburn said. The friend has a concealed-weapons permit and took his gun with him when he went to the apartment, Blackburn said.
A fight broke out, and the friend of the boyfriend was hit in the head with a glass bottle, Blackburn said. Both men fired their weapons, Blackburn said.
Blackburn said statements were taken from all three people who were there. He said it is possible they could claim self-defense. He said the boyfriend was in his own home and is legally allowed to own a gun, as well as the friend he called to come and help him.
No one is in custody, Blackburn said.
Cracraft was shot twice and taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center, where he later died.
Blackburn said Cracraft and his estranged wife are still legally married and going through the process of a divorce. He said she has filed complaints against Cracraft and that she has a civil protection order against him.
A check of court records shows Cracraft pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in 2006 to a charge of breaking and entering and was sentenced to a year’s probation, and a 2012 conviction in municipal court for obstructing official business and disorderly conduct after he pleaded no contest and was found guilty. He was sentenced to probation and then brought back for a probation violation in 2013, but the violation was dismissed later.
Also, according to court records, Cracraft was issued a traffic ticket Friday evening for failure to wear a seat belt and was arraigned on that ticket Monday in municipal court.
On Saturday, Shaniece Wells, 23, of Maplewood Court, died after she was shot at an 884 E. Boston Ave. home. A suspect in her death, Keith Sims, 25, of Ford Avenue, turned himself in to police early Monday and was being questioned by detectives when word came of the shooting on East Midlothian Boulevard.
At this time in 2013, Youngstown had 15 homicides. The city finished 2013 with 20 homicides.