'I was trying to bury my wife,' man tells judge of attack in cemetery

YOUNGSTOWN

The man who police say was attacked at his wife’s burial service June 3 in Tod Homestead Cemetery and shot a man in self-defense testified that angry words started with his wife’s sister before the service even began.

Dwayne Brown testified in a preliminary hearing for Richard Harris in municipal court that Bonnie Weaver, Harris's mother, who is facing a felony count of carrying a concealed weapon as well as misdemeanor assault, was exchanging text messages with him before the service that went from friendly to volatile.

Weaver, 53, also was charged with assault. Judge Elizabeth Kobly bound over to a Mahoning County grand jury the felony charge against Harris, 25, of Cincinnati, after Friday’s hearing in municipal court.

Weaver’s case is pending.

Police said Harris took a gun to the funeral, and he and his mother attacked Brown. During the scuffle, the gun fell out of Harris’ clothes. Police said Brown picked the gun up and shot Harris in the arm.

At the cemetery, Brown said Harris and his mother were berating him as the coffin containing his wife, Brenda Carol Weaver-Brown, was being lowered into the grave.

“I was trying to bury my wife that day,” Brown said.

Read more on the incident in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.