METRO DIGEST || Speech team showcase

Speech team showcase

CANFIELD

Canfield Speech & Debate Team Showcase will take place at 7 p.m. today in the high-school auditorium, 100 Cardinal Drive. The event will highlight the team’s accomplishments and feature its top performers. Admission is free. Video recording is prohibited.

Handguns seized

YOUNGSTOWN

Police seized two .40-caliber handguns in separate incidents over the weekend.

At about 9:45 p.m. Saturday, officers were called to the 100 block of North Blaine Avenue on the East Side on a report of a man firing a gun into the air. When they arrived, they found Nelson Raymond Santiago-George, 21, who fit the description of the person shooting. When police searched him they found a gun in his pants, reports said. He was booked into the Mahoning County jail on a charge of carrying concealed weapons.

At about 11 p.m. Friday, police pulled over a car driven by Elbert Shuler, 31, of Youngstown, at East Glenaven and Erie avenues on the South Side for an expired license plate. They searched the car after they encountered the strong odor of marijuana and found a gun inside.

Reports said Shuler told police he found the gun after a man dropped it at his mother’s home and took it because he wanted to take it apart. He was booked into the jail on a charge of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle.

Fires damage 2 homes

YOUNGSTOWN

Firefighters responded to two blazes Sunday on the East Side.

A fire at about 4:35 p.m. at a vacant home at 1924 East High Ave. caused $3,000 in damage. Reports said the cause is under investigation.

At about 7 p.m., two children were taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital for smoke inhalation after a fire at an apartment at 969 Plazaview. Fire investigator Capt. Kurt Wright said a 5-year-old child playing with a lighter started that fire. The American Red Cross was notified to help the family.

Damage is listed at $7,000. The two children were released later from the hospital.

Man says he was shot

YOUNGSTOWN

A 34-year-old man told police just after 10 p.m. Sunday he was shot in the foot at Elm Street and Saranac Avenue on the North Side.

Officers talked to the man at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where he was taken by his girlfriend. The victim told police he was walking when he heard gunfire and discovered he was shot.

Reports said officers asked the victim how he could have suffered a gunshot wound to the top of his foot, which would be a hard wound to suffer by just walking. The man told police someone must have fired the shot from a tree or tall building, but reports said there are no tall trees of buildings in the area.

Sentenced for gunfight

WARREN

Carlos Bell, 34, of Oregon Avenue Northwest, will be spending the next 10 years in prison for participating in a May 1, 2015, gunfight at the BP gas station on East Market Street. The fight injured three of the combatants and an innocent third party.

Bell pleaded guilty Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court before Judge Peter Kontos to aggravated robbery, three counts of felonious assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle.

De’Shawn L. Dorsey, 25, of Jefferson Street Southwest, was sentenced to eight years in prison in December for his role in the incident.

A girl, 15, was hit in the eyes with flying glass from the gunfire, Warren police said.

Charges dropped

YOUNGSTOWN

Charges were dropped against a man police said forced a car off the road that flipped on its side at about 5:25 p.m. Sunday at McCartney and Keystone roads.

Reports said the man thought the people in the car were trying to break into his house, so he followed them until he rammed the car.

No one was injured. The man was booked into the Mahoning County jail but released Monday, according to jail records.

Talk on shale gas

YOUNGSTOWN

Dr. Tony Ingraffea will discuss “The Science of Shale Gas/Oil: The Latest Evidence on Methane Emissions and Implications for Energy Policy” at 7 p.m. Wednesday in room B112 of Cushwa Hall at Youngstown State University.

Ingraffea has a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in civil engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York, and a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Colorado.

His research concentrates on computer simulation and physical testing of complex fracturing processes.

The lecture is free and open to the public. There is free on-street parking after 5 p.m. at the metered parking spaces along Lincoln Avenue and nearby streets. For information, visit tinyurl.com/YSU-Energy-S16.

Hearing today

BOARDMAN

Brian Golec, 26, of Devitt Avenue, Campbell, has a hearing at 8:30 a.m. today in Mahoning County Area Court here on a charge of possession of dangerous drugs and traffic citations.

Township police stopped his car late last week for a traffic violation – crossing over the solid double yellow lines three times – on Glenwood Avenue, according to a police report.

After initiating a traffic stop, the officer found Golec not wearing his seat belt. The officer reportedly smelled a strong odor of marijuana from the car and asked Golec to get out. According to the report, Golec admitted marijuana was in the glovebox.

Police discovered a plastic bag containing suspected marijuana and other drugs.

Vandalism hearing

BOARDMAN

Steven Upson, 43, of McBride Street, Youngstown, has a hearing today in Mahoning County Area Court here on a charge of vandalism at Tinseltown theater on Market Street.

Police responded to a call from the theater’s manager at 9 p.m. about a family refusing to leave. The manager told police a theater employee alerted him of a family being loud and disturbing other moviegoers. The manger asked one member of the family to step out and that they would have to leave.

The family member then purportedly started shouting profanities at him, followed by Upson and the rest of the family coming out of the theater. The manager said Upson became extremely angry and began yelling at him with profanities as well. Upson also demanded a refund but was denied.

According to a witness, Upson purportedly yelled something at the theater employees, and used a post that forms lines at the ticket booth and smashed a personal computer valued at $500 resting at the ticket podium. Police arrested Upson and took him to the Mahoning County jail.

Man faces OVI hearing

BOARDMAN

Kenneth Hvizdak, 63, of Boardman has a hearing today in Mahoning County Area Court here on a charge of operating a vehicle while impaired.

According to a police report, officers found Hvizdak in a driveway on Mill Creek Drive slumped over the steering wheel of a car at about 7 p.m. Friday.

Police awakened him and asked him to step out of the vehicle. After refusing to submit to a field-sobriety test, the officer placed him under arrest for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Police also suspended his license.