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Man charged with commiting felonious assault at Warren store
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Aswad Fleming, 25, of West Avenue Northwest and Atlantic Street, is in the Trumbull County Jail without eligibility to make bond after pleading not guilty Monday to two counts of felonious assault.
He’s accused of firing a gun Friday morning at a west side store. No one was hit.
Police said they found Fleming hiding in an abandoned car on Front Street Southwest at 10:18 a.m. Friday and arrested him in connection with gunshots fired at the Dollar General Store on West Market Street nearby about 30 minutes earlier.
No one was injured by the gunfire, but a 29-year-old city woman suffered an unspecified injury, according to a Warren police report.
A witness to the incident said he was leaving the store when he saw a man and woman arguing, then saw the man firing bullets. The bullets hit the witness’s car twice.
“I needed a roll of Scotch tape and a squirt bottle, and it almost cost me my life,” the man said. The shot hit his car’s radiator and window, he said.
In January 2012, Fleming was sentenced to nearly three years in prison after leading police on a 26-minute low-speed and high-speed chase around the north side of the city in 2011. He was released from prison last June, according to court records.
In addition to felonious assault, police also charged Fleming with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Police also responded to South Feederle Avenue Southeast 3:30 p.m. Friday for gunshots. Police found six spent shell casings in the street and spoke to witnesses who said a man was shooting at another man between buildings of the apartment complex.
Police made a traffic stop nearby about 30 minutes later and arrested Rafael L. Patterson, 25, of Laurelwood Drive Southeast on charges of possessing drugs and possessing drug paraphernalia; he was not charged with firing a gun. No injuries were reported.
Patterson pleaded not guilty and was released after posting $4,500 bond.
In another case from the weekend, a city woman was released from the jail on $4,500 bond after appearing in court on an aggravated-burglary charge.
Marisa I. Ruiz, 46, of Cranberry Lane pleaded not guilty to breaking into a house on Northfield Avenue Northwest at 2:53 a.m. Sunday, arguing with a man, and trying to break into his bedroom with a knife.
Ruiz told police the man let her into the house, but another woman inside the house said Ruiz let herself in. The other woman and the man both said Ruiz tried to stab them through the crack in the bedroom door, but she was unable to get in. The man and woman in the bedroom were not injured.
Ruiz pleaded not guilty to aggravated burglary, and bond was at $4,500. Police arrested Ruiz walking away from the house with cut and bleeding hands.