43
Cops: Suspect blamed Monday shooting victim for Saturday murder
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Police say it may have been bad information that led to a shooting late Monday at a South Side bar that left one man dead and five others, including the suspect, wounded.
Tony Brown Jr., 34, of West Delason Avenue, was found about 10:50 p.m. in the street in front of the Southern Tavern, 1508 Glenwood Ave., with a fatal gunshot wound to the stomach.
Five others were wounded, including the man detectives say will be charged with the shooting, Daniel Harris, 36, of Becky Court in Boardman.
Harris also was wounded during the shooting and is being treated at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
Others wounded were Robert Bell, 36, of Taft Avenue; Joseph Jackson, 39, of Detroit Avenue; Willie McGaha, 68, of Scioto Avenue; and Robert Milton, 57, of Wirt Street.
Chief of Detectives Capt. Brad Blackburn said investigators think Harris thought Brown was involved in the murder of Thomas Owens, 33, who was shot to death Saturday morning in a parked car in the 500 block of West Myrtle Avenue. Harris is related to Owens, Blackburn said. No one has been arrested in Owens’ death.
Blackburn said Harris saw Brown outside of the bar and had words with him, then pulled a gun and fired several shots. Someone else had a gun as well and fired back, striking Harris, Blackburn said, but detectives are not yet sure who returned fire.
Investigators did find a revolver at the crime scene, Blackburn said.
Blackburn said some of the rounds that were fired went through the wall and hit three of the victims inside the bar.
Harris gave a statement at the hospital that he was mad at Brown, Blackburn said.
He said detectives will confer with city Prosecutor Dana Lantz before deciding what charges to file.
Detectives still do not have an arrest in the killing of Owens, but Blackburn said they do not think Brown was involved.
Blackburn said Brown was also sitting in the parked car at the time Owens was shot and that the car was peppered with gunfire. He said it is not plausible that someone would set up a shooting then sit inside the same car with the victim as it was riddled with gunfire.
“That car was shot into multiple times,” Blackburn said. “It was a miracle no one else was hit.”
There were two other people inside the car besides Owens and Brown, police said.
Police who were at the scene of Saturday’s shooting said they collected numerous shell casings from semiautomatic weapons.
Court records show Brown just had his probation ended for three trafficking in cocaine charges he pleaded guilty to in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Harris has at least one trafficking offense he served probation for in 2007 and several traffic charges, including an aggravated vehicular assault in 2001.
Owens served some time in jail after being convicted of negligent homicide for the Dec. 28, 2004, shooting death of Richard Owens, 41, no relation, in a home on Worthington Avenue.
Blackburn said the recent spate of five homicides since Nov. 6 has strained his squad of detectives. Because of the odd hours they are called out and often long hours they must work to pursue leads and other pieces of evidence before they grow cold, fatigue has set in for some.
He said there are only a limited number of detectives that can handle homicides because of upcoming retirements in the detective bureau.
Brown’s death is the 21st homicide of the year in Youngstown. In 2014, the city recorded 19 homicides.