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Youngstown man who was shot in the head says he needs gun for protection
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man wanted on a warrant for shooting at a woman Feb. 11 told police after he was arrested Thursday with a handgun that he needs the gun because he was shot in the head in 2014.
Jaquez Brown, 23, was arraigned Friday in municipal court before visiting Judge Barbara Watson on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, driving under suspension and a warrant for felonious assault.
Judge Watson set Brown’s bond at $25,000.
Brown was arrested just after 3 p.m. Thursday by officers Mark Sember and James Cline after he was pulled over on Idlewood Avenue for making an improper turn, reports said.
Reports said the officers could smell marijuana inside the car, and a records check found the warrant as well as the fact that Brown has a suspended license.
Brown told police before they searched the car that he had a gun under the driver’s seat. Police found a 9 mm Smith & Wesson handgun.
On the way to the Mahoning County jail to be booked, Brown told the officers he was shot in the head twice in 2014 and needs the gun for protection. When asked if he needed it all the time, reports said he told police he did.
Vindicator files show that Brown was shot in the head March 15, 2014, while he was a passenger in an SUV at a gas station at South and East Dewey avenues.
The man accused of shooting him was found not guilty of felonious assault and attempted murder after a trial in October 2015 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
The felonious-assault warrant stems from a shooting Feb. 11 on Vestal Road. Police were called there about 5:50 p.m., where a 27-year-old woman told them Brown had fired several shots at her car, striking it three times.
Reports said the woman told officers she thinks Brown was upset with her because she had something to do with Brown breaking up with his girlfriend.
The woman was not injured in that shooting.