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Police still looking for leads in weekend shootings
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Police say it does not appear two shootings hours apart Friday are related.
Chief of Detectives Capt. Brad Blackburn said Monday that detectives still are looking for leads in those shootings, as well as one Sunday afternoon that killed William P. Jones, 55, in front of a home on East Princeton Avenue on the South Side.
Killed Friday afternoon about 5:30 p.m. in the 300 block of South Jackson Street on the East Side was Xavier Vega, 28.
Wounded just a couple of hours later on the South Side during a drive-by shooting in the 800 block of East Philadelphia Avenue on the South Side was Amos Dothard Jr., 18, of Plazaview Court.
The deaths of Jones and Vega give the city four homicides for 2015. Youngstown had 19 homicides in 2014. At this point in 2014 the city had two homicides.
Blackburn said a preliminary investigation over the weekend showed no connection between the death of Vega and the wounding of Dothard.
“Nothing stands out that makes us think they’re really connected,” Blackburn said.
Court records show that Vega was sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to six months in prison in 2012 on a charge of trafficking in marijuana to which he pleaded guilty. Other than that, the only other case he had was a 2014 traffic case in Austintown.
Dothard was to go on trial Monday on a felony charge of receiving stolen property and a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon involving an incident in February. He is being treated at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where he was in critical condition.
Blackburn said detectives Monday were looking for witnesses and family members to interview in all three cases.
Jones, who witnesses said was homeless, was at the East Princeton home, which belonged to a family member, to get something to eat, witnesses said.
Neighbors reported hearing gunshots then finding Jones lying in the front yard of the home.