The 30-year-old man said he shot grandfather to protect his grandmother.

Staff report

GIRARD

Branden D. Cagley, 30, of 1780 Lucretia Drive in Liberty was arraigned Monday in Girard Municipal Court on one count of murder in the Sunday afternoon shooting death of his stepgrandfather, James W. Phillips, 81, of the same Lucretia address.

Bond was set at $250,000, and he will return for a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

A person identifying himself as Cagley called 911 about the time others called regarding the 3:49 p.m. shooting, and the man said he shot his grandfather in the chest to protect his grandmother.

Phillips’ wife, Dorothy Phillips, 80, also called and said Cagley had shot her husband because her husband was going to beat her.

In 2010, police charged James Phillips with assault after a neighbor said he punched her in the mouth during an argument. A Girard court dismissed that charge, according to online records.

The Trumbull County Coroner’s Office said an autopsy was planned for Monday, but no ruling was available as of Monday afternoon on the cause and manner of death.

“It’s a tragic case, for sure,” Liberty Police Chief Richard Tisone said. Dorothy Phillips “lost her husband and now her grandson is in jail. It’s not your typical homicide, if there is such a thing.”

Assuming it is ruled a homicide, it will be the third one in a month in Liberty.

The shooting deaths of Jesse Cooper, 62, of Frederick Street and Gloria Khory, 39, of Logan Avenue at Cooper’s apartment were both ruled homicides. Cooper’s death was from multiple gunshot wounds, and Khory’s death was from a gunshot wound to the head. Before the deaths of Cooper and Khoury, the most recent homicide in the township had occurred in 2009.

Their deaths were not suicide or murder-suicide, the coroner’s office said. The rulings were made April 8 for Khory and April 9 for Cooper.