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Youngstown cops find gun on 12-year-old during South Side brawl
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A 12-year-old was taken to the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center on Monday after police found a semiautomatic handgun on him while investigating two brawls on the South Side.
The brawls were tied to the same incident.
Reports said the gun was a .25-caliber handgun that was loaded with one hollow-point round. The gun was found in the boy’s pants pocket when he was searched, reports said.
The boy told police he found the gun, reports said.
Police were called to a home in the 200 block of East Lucius Avenue for a report of a large fight, and when they arrived they found a man on a porch holding his head. The man told police the boy and his mother and other people drove to his home in an SUV and began arguing with the victim over his food-stamp card, reports said.
The victim told police the people were telling him he owed them money. He told police he used to stay at the same home as the boy and his mother, and sometimes he would buy food for them with his food-stamp card.
The group the boy was with then began to approach the home, and as it did, a group of people with the victim began to fight. At some point, the victim was knocked to the ground and kicked in the head. The victim told police that the boy then took $90 from him, plus his cellphone, before the group drove away to a home in the 200 block of East Avondale Avenue.
The people on East Lucius Avenue then began walking toward East Avondale, and other officers were called to the area to try to contain the fight, reports said. Police went to a home in the 200 block of East Avondale and found another large fight – and also found the boy next to the SUV that took him to the home on East Lucius.
Police took the boy into custody for robbery because the victim on East Lucius Avenue said he wanted to press charges. When the boy was searched, police found the gun.
Reports said the boy told police at the JJC that he found the gun, then he refused to answer any more questions.
A 15-year-old boy was cited for disorderly conduct about 5:25 p.m. in the same area as the first fight for trying to fight other people and refusing police commands to stop, reports said. The boy was taken to his mother’s home and given a citation and a court date.