METRO DIGEST || Warren shooting death ruled homicide

Death ruled homicide

WARREN

The Trumbull County coroner has ruled the death of Devonte West, 24, of Hamilton Street Southwest to be a homicide, the result of multiple gunshot wounds.

He was one of three people found dead of gunshot wounds in a car crash on Southern Boulevard Thursday night near Solar Street Northwest.

Also killed were Brandy M. Joseph, 37, of various Warren addresses, and Ju’wantae A. Harbin, 18, of Douglas Street Northwest.

West was the driver, police said. West and Joseph were pronounced dead at the scene. Harbin, who was a 2017 graduate of Warren G. Harding High School, was pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

Police say the deaths will result in “at least” two homicides and possibly three, and that no one else besides the three were involved in the shootings. Autopsy results were not available Tuesday for Joseph and Harbin.

Niles candidate

WARREN

Trumbull County Democratic Party precinct committee members Tuesday selected Barry Profato to replace Stephen G. Papalas as councilman at-large for Niles in the fall election, said Dan Polivka, party chairman and a county commissioner.

Papalas, a Democrat, withdrew his name from the ballot July 13. He won the May primary and will stay on until the end of the year.

Profato, director of marketing for Metro Monthly and a former Niles clerk of courts and councilman, will face two other Democrats, a Republican and an independent candidate for the at-large seat in the November general election.

Property dispute

WARREN

Linda M. Watson, 61, of West Park Avenue, Weathersfield Township, was arraigned Tuesday in Niles Municipal Court on a felonious-assault charge. Police said she hit another woman with a fence post in a 2:32 p.m. property dispute Monday.

Bond was set at $10,000.

Watson’s neighbor told police she and Watson got into an argument after Watson had fence posts installed on the neighbor’s property.

Watson’s neighbor asked her to remove them because the neighbor had surveyed the property to build their own fence.

During the argument, Watson grabbed one of the posts and swung it at the neighbor’s daughter, 28, hitting her in the head, neck and arm, police said.

Afterward, the daughter tackled Watson to the ground, police said, but her mother pulled her off, and the women returned to their homes.

Gunshots reported

WARREN

Two women and a man said gunshots from a large group of people were fired at them while they stood in front of their home on McMyler Street Northwest at 11 p.m. Monday.

The three were looking at their car after it had been damaged by a vehicle leaving the area during a fight involving people and guns in the street, they told police.

Another person on nearby Parkman Road Northwest said his garage was hit by a bullet fired at the same time.

Officers found a bullet in the front of the garage. No one was injured.

Charged with robbery

NILES

Brandon M. Flanigan, 24, of Washington Avenue and Difford Drive, and Melissa R. Stevens, 41, of Difford Drive are charged with robbery after an incident Monday afternoon outside Macy’s Department Store in Eastwood Mall.

Police were called to the store at 4:45 p.m. for Stevens leaving the store without paying for five Polo shirts valued at $425.

A Macy’s loss-prevention officer stopped her outside the store after officials observed her putting shirts in a purse.

She tried to run, but an officer grabbed her, a police report said.

Then Flanigan tried to grab the stolen merchandise and kicked a second loss-prevention officer before two other loss-prevention officers were able to get Flanigan in handcuffs.

Stevens remains in the Trumbull County jail in lieu of $10,000 bond, and Flanigan is in jail without bond eligibility. No plea was entered in Niles Municipal Court.

Child sex offender

WARREN

Jasen Schiebel, 37, of North Road in Niles, formerly of McDonald, has been sentenced to 180 days in the Trumbull County jail after being convicted of using a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance.

The charges, brought by the McDonald Police Department, said Schiebel took nude pictures of a teenage girl over several years.

Schiebel received his sentence from Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, who also ordered Schiebel to have no access to social media during the five years of his probation, as verified by the county adult probation department, and to have no contact with the victim. He also must register as a sex offender.