Man and woman charged after boy shot in the foot in Liberty

Staff report

GIRARD

The two adults who live at the Montrose Avenue house in Liberty Township, where a boy was shot in the foot June 6, have been charged with felony receiving stolen property and misdemeanor child endangering.

Keyoina S. Owens, 33, and Joseph N. Greer, 32, were issued summonses to appear in Girard Municipal Court June 30 for arraigment.

Liberty Police Chief Rich Tisone said the child-endangering charge for each is likely to be re-filed as a felony, however, based on a further review after the charges were filed.

Liberty police said a boy, 13, from Columbus, and his cousin, 12, of Hubbard, were among three boys playing video games alone in the basement of the home when they found a gun, and the 13-year-old accidentally fired it, hitting his cousin in the foot.

The boy’s injuries were not life-threatening, police said. There was a fourth boy in the home at the time, according to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

Tisone said Owens and Greer, who were not at the home at the time of the shooting, were charged because their names were on the lease for the home. It took a while to determine who was on the lease because the owner of the home lives in Australia, he said. Tisone said he doesn’t know if any of the boys are related to Owens or Greer.

The gun that was used in the shooting was stolen, Tisone said.

Greer was sentenced to four years in prison in 2011 after being convicted in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court of two counts of felonious assault and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.