Thursday, March 17, 2016
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
One man is dead and a second was injured in separate shootings late Tuesday and early Wednesday.
About 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, a passing motorist on Oak Street Extension saw a body in the street about 100 yards from Oak Street on the city’s East Side and called 911. Police found the man, who they say was 22, dead from a gunshot wound.
Chief of Detectives Capt. Brad Blackburn said detectives know who the victim is, but are waiting until the family is notified by the Mahoning County coroner to release the victim’s name. A spokeswoman for the corner’s office said an autopsy is planned for today.
Blackburn said it appeared early in the investigation that the man was shot where he was found and left there. He said the man had not been dead very long before police were called.
The man’s death is the third homicide in the city in 2016. In 2015, the city had 23 homicides. At this point in 2015, the city had two homicides. The third homicide of 2015 was not recorded until April 17.
About 10:20 p.m. Tuesday, a 26-year-old man was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital after he was shot in the leg and had a finger tip blown off inside a home in the 700 block of Palmer Avenue on the South Side.
Reports said the victim told police he was watching television with another man when he heard a series of gunshots, and both men started running toward the back door, where the victim was hit.
Another bullet also hit an ankle bracelet the victim was wearing because he is on electronically monitored house arrest for a crime, reports said.
A woman who lives in the house told police someone came by a few days before and threatened someone in the home. Reports said the woman told police it was over “retaliation,” but she would not tell police what may have caused the retaliation.
Outside the home, officers found two 7.62 mm shell casings, the type of ammunition commonly used in assault rifles.