METRO DIGEST || Victim confronts thief

Victim confronts thief

WARREN

A 22-year-old man who lives on Dunstan Drive Northwest said he walked to his car at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday to go to work and found a man inside stealing his stereo and speaker amplifiers.

The victim saw the front driver-side window broken out and then saw a male in the back seat of his car.

The suspect then pointed a gun at him and said, “Back up now or I’ll shoot you,” he said.

The suspect then removed the stereo and speaker amplifiers, placed them in his black pickup truck with a green tarp and left.

Knife in school

STRUTHERS

A Struthers High School student is in the detention center at the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center after school officials said he brought a knife to school Tuesday.

Lucas Spayde, 18, of Youngstown is charged with illegal conveyance or possession of deadly weapons on school grounds, which is a fifth-degree felony.

Internet hoax

CAMPBELL

Police are urging parents to disregard an apparent Internet hoax that claims a student brought a gun to Campbell Elementary School. A post entitled “Campbell Ohio Elementary Student Brings Gun to School?” published on the “Youngstown Angels” website Thursday said a “concerned parent” discovered a girl brought a gun to school in her purse Wednesday and suggests the school and law enforcement tried to cover it up by not reporting the incident.

Police Officer Jason Goist said the allegations are false. No one brought a gun to school on Wednesday, and police did not arrest a student, he said. Goist said police plan to pursue inducing panic charges against the website’s creator.

Superintendent Matthew Bowen confirmed the page’s allegations were false.

Expert: Officer justified in shooting of youth

CLEVELAND

A third expert on police use of force concludes that a white Cleveland policeman was justified in fatally shooting a 12-year-old black boy carrying a pellet gun.

The report by a retired Florida police officer was released Thursday by the county prosecutor in Cleveland. It comes as a grand jury hears evidence on whether patrolman Timothy Loehmann should be charged criminally for killing Tamir Rice outside a recreation center last November.

The Florida ex-officer says Loehmann perceived a threat when he fired and his actions were reasonable given the circumstances.

Two other use-of-force experts hired by prosecutors also concluded that the shooting was justified.

Theft from car lot

AUSTINTOWN

Four tires and aluminum wheels were stolen from a 2016 Ford Explorer in a fenced car lot on Mahoning Avenue last weekend. No other cars appeared to be tampered with.

Warner Road reopens

HARTFORD

Warner Road in Hartford and Fowler townships reopened Thursday, said the Trumbull County Engineer’s office.

Anti-smoking drive targets Ohio veterans

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Department of Health has launched an anti-tobacco campaign aimed at getting veterans to put out their cigarettes for good.

Mandy Burkett, chief of the Health Department’s Tobacco Program, says they must curtail tobacco use among groups who are affected the most in order to curb tobacco use throughout the state.

Smoking rates among veterans are much higher than the rest of the state’s population. Statistics show the smoking rate among veterans 45 to 54 years old is more than 50 percent higher than that of the average population.

The department is using billboards, digital ads on Google and Facebook and bicycle mini-boards to push the anti-smoking message in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo.

Vindicator staff, wire reports