Warren man gets 9 years in 2014 shooting

WARREN — The daughter of a man shot to death in his home on Deerfield Street Northwest Aug. 5 told his killer she is sad her father is gone — but “I’m going to still make him proud, and I’m going to still live my life.”

Brooke Pruitt spoke during the sentencing of David R. Blackmon Jr., 47, of a different Deerfield Avenue address. He pleaded guilty today in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter with a firearm in the death of Mitchell Pruitt, 50, and received a nine-year prison sentence.

Blackmon originally was charged with murder, which could have produced a life prison sentence.

Pruitt family members said Pruitt and Blackmon had known each other since they were boys. Family members said they thought the two were friends. They described Pruitt as a 15-year Air Force veteran who served in Afghanistan and came home with a drug addiction.

“My children will never know their grandfather. I will not have someone to walk me down the aisle,” said Brooke Pruitt, one of Mitchell Pruitt’s daughters.

For the complete story, read Thursday's Vindicator and Vindy.com