Woman killed, daughter wounded in Mespo shooting
SEE ALSO: • Coroner issues ruling in Liberty woman's death
• Warren police following leads in shooting death of Youngstown man
By Joe Gorman
MESOPOTAMIA
A woman killed late Tuesday in a shooting on state Route 87 was picking up her daughter after she had an argument with her boyfriend, detectives say.
Cathryn Lambert, 48, of Stow, was killed about 11:35 p.m. in the 4000 block of Route 87, and her daughter, Tiffany Lambert, 26, was wounded. She is being treated at a Geauga County hospital.
Arrested is Tiffany Lambert’s boyfriend, Douglas Scott Day, 23, found a couple of hours later at the home of his mother in Roaming Shores in Ashtabula County.
Day is in the Trumbull County Adult Justice Center on $1 million bond after his arraignment in common pleas court on charges of aggravated murder and felonious assault.
The shooting stunned neighbors in this rural community, but many of them said they also felt relieved because the person who police think is responsible was caught right away.
“It’s pretty surprising,” said Dennis Wildman, who lives two doors up from the home where Tiffany Lambert lived with her boyfriend, and who called 911. “Hardly anybody locks their doors.”
Trumbull County deputy sheriffs arrived and found a car that had crashed through a fence and continued on, smashing into the front porch of another home.
Reports said Tiffany Lambert was outside the car with wounds to her back and shoulder. Her mother was inside the car with a gunshot wound to the neck and was not breathing.
Wildman said before he called 911 he could hear Tiffany Lambert screaming.
“I came to the door and the girl was screaming for help,” Wildman said. “I called 911 and she [Cathryn Lambert] was moving her head a little bit.”
Maj. Jeff Palmer of the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office said that Tiffany Lambert told deputies about who shot her and where she thought he was going, which is how investigators were able to track down Day in Roaming Shores.
“It was a fluid situation where we were getting information on the fly,” Palmer said.
An affidavit filed in common pleas court said that Tiffany Lambert had been arguing with Day and he had been drinking and wanted her to stay, but she had asked her mother to pick her up. Day had a 9mm and .45-caliber handgun and followed her outside and fired several shots. The affidavit said crime-scene personnel collected 13 spent shell casings from the road.
Day told his mother he “[messed] up real bad” and wanted to see his two children one last time, the affidavit said. Day’s parents took his guns at the home.
Reports said when Day was taken into custody, police found a .22-caliber handgun and .45-caliber, .22-caliber and 9mm ammunition. He was taken into custody without incident. The affidavit said “he [Day] never denied one time shooting the victims.”
Eli Miller, whose fence was crashed through, said he heard some noise but assumed it was rain and went back to sleep. He said his wife woke him up a short time later and he found a crime scene in his front yard.
“I went to the window and saw all the cars and tape,” Miller said.
Pamela Howes, who lives next door to Wildman, also heard the gunfire.
“I heard a couple of pops, and that’s when I woke up,” Howes said.
Wildman’s wife, Barbara, just got done watching the news when she heard the car hit the porch, she said.
“All I heard was a big boom,” Barbara Wildman said.
Howes and Dennis Wildman both said they felt relieved that a suspect was taken into custody so quickly.
A search of court records in common pleas court and Central District Court showed no charges have ever been filed against Day.
This is the third homicide in Trumbull County this week and the sixth of the year. On Monday, an elderly woman was killed in her Church Hill-Hubbard Road home in Liberty and a neighbor was arrested. Earlier Tuesday, about 10 p.m., a man was shot and killed inside a car on Harvard Avenue Southeast in Warren.
On Feb. 25, two men were shot and killed in an argument outside a Niles-Cortland Road home in Howland. On Feb. 7, a man was shot and killed during an argument at a Weathersfield Township home and the suspect in that case was killed by Howland police during a shootout in the parking lot of the Howland Giant Eagle.