Tuesday, September 23, 2014
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man who had a loaded shotgun in a South Side parking lot was taken into custody early Monday afternoon, and the city’s police chief assisted in the arrest.
Police were called to the Salvation Army building at 1501 Glenwood Ave. about 12:35 p.m. for a report of a man inside the building with a shotgun.
Officers were unclear if the man ever made it inside, but he was arrested in the parking lot with the weapon, a witness said, and police later took a shotgun out of the man’s truck. He was identified as 55-year-old Robbie Sims of Fairview Avenue.
There was a 12-gauge shell inside the shotgun, said Detective Sgt. Brent Gaitanis.
One of the first officers on the scene was police Chief Robin Lees who, with another officer, took the man into custody at gunpoint.
Representatives of the Salvation Army at the building declined to comment.
Donald McDowell said he was standing outside and watched it all. He said Sims pulled up in his pickup truck and went inside, then came back out five minutes later upset about something and he pulled out right away.
“He took off like a bat out of hell,” McDowell said.
Five minutes later, Sims was back, put a shell in the shotgun, put the shotgun back in the truck and walked back inside, McDowell said. McDowell said he was not afraid for himself but for Sims, whom he said he knows.
“I was afraid for him because I thought it might get out of hand,” McDowell said.
When the first officers arrived, Sims was ordered at gunpoint to get on his knees and put his hands on his head. McDowell said Sims did it right away.
“He knew he was wrong,” McDowell said.
Gaitanis said Sims is charged with felony inducing panic and misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle. Gaitanis said several people were eating lunch in the kitchen when Sims came back, and they all left the building when they found out he had a gun with him.
Police did find a shotgun in Sims’ truck and took the gun as evidence.