43
Three killed in Warren shooting
By Joe Gorman
WARREN
Call logs from the Trumbull County 911 Center show there was a lot of activity Thursday evening around a Cadillac that had crashed into a house at Southern Boulevard and Solar Drive Southwest after gunfire broke out.
Police on Friday would not say if someone was shooting at the Cadillac from another car, or if shots were fired on foot or from someone inside the Cadillac, but three people were killed. If the deaths are ruled homicides, it would give the city seven homicides for 2017.
Warren had four homicides in 2016, according to Vindicator files.
Killed in the shooting were Devonte West, 24, of Hamilton Street; Brandy Johnson, 37, of Merriweather Street; and Ju’Wante Harbin, 18, of Douglas Street.
Capt. Robert Massucci, head of the department’s Criminal Investigations Unit, said police had no suspects Friday, but based on how the attack was carried out, they do not believe the killings were a random act.
The call logs show the first call that came into 911 about 7:12 p.m. Thursday said occupants of two cars were shooting at one another. Other calls quickly came after that first one, saying gunfire could be heard, the Cadillac crashed into the house, three or four people were shooting and “shots were fired in the car and hit the house.”
Massucci said he did not want to comment on where the gunfire came from. A police statement said that as officers were on their way to the call, they were told that someone inside the car was firing a gun.
The logs also said some people went outside to help the people in the Cadillac but went back inside when they heard gunfire.
Massucci also said police believe the deaths are not related to a spate of gunfire Thursday morning on Homewood Avenue Southeast, where officers found several 9 mm shell casings and shotgun wadding. A car and several homes were damaged about 12:20 a.m. by gunfire. No one was injured.
A check of Warren Municipal Court and Trumbull County Common Pleas Court shows no criminal records for Johnson or Harbin. West has three misdemeanor convictions in municipal court and no record in common pleas court.
So far in 2017, Trumbull County has 13 homicides. Last year, the county had a total of 13 homicides.
A search of Vindicator files dating back to 1991 could not find a triple homicide in Warren. The last double homicide in the city was Oct. 24, 2014, when Charles McNear, 53, and Sophie Stefek, 41, were killed in an arson at McNear’s Ivanhoe Street home.
The last triple homicide in Trumbull County, according to Vindicator files, was the Sept. 13, 2005, deaths of Lena Cross, 22, and her two young sons in an arson in Girard.