Suspects still sought

Suspects still sought

YOUNGSTOWN

Police continue looking for leads to find the person or people who shot a 20-year-old man who was wounded in the 400 block of Parkcliffe Avenue. Police said he may be paralyzed.

Reports said officers were called to the street about 8:35 p.m. Thursday and found a car riddled with gunfire, and a man who was wounded.

The victim told police he was shot when he was driving on Parkcliffe Avenue. A man in the car with the victim who police identified as his brother was not injured. The victim was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where he still is being treated.

Suspect in killing of Masury woman nabbed

SHARPSVILLE, Pa.

A Sharpsville man accused of killing a Trumbull County woman remains in the Berks County Prison, as he awaits a return to Mercer County to answer three felony charges in court.

Police have filed a criminal complaint with a district magistrate charging 36-year-old Antonio Velazquez-Rupert with murder in the death of 28-year-old Amanda Downs of Masury, according to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

In addition to the criminal-homicide charge, Velazquez-Rupert is also charged with kidnapping Downs’ 8-month-old daughter Ariella, as well as interfering with custody of a child.

Sharpsville Police found the body of Amanda Downs just after noon Saturday at the Georgetown South Apartments, 331 Canterbury Court in Sharpsville.

Later that afternoon, Velazquez-Rupert was arrested more than 300 miles away in Reading, Pa., between Harrisburg and Philadelphia.

Victim of Newton Falls shooting is identified

NEWTON FALLS

The victim of a fatal shooting reported to Newton Falls police at 12:30 a.m. Saturday is Howard Smith, 49, of 615 Ridge Road, the address where the shooting occurred.

According to Newton Falls Police Chief Gene H. Fixler, a female acquaintance who resides with Smith was present when the shooting occurred and reported it via a 911 emergency call.

Fixler said the incident is being handled as a suspicious death and is under investigation by Newton Falls police detectives and the Trumbull County Homicide Task Force.

The Newton Falls Police chief said no other information, including 911 call tapes, was available as Sunday.

Smith was found by police in a second-floor bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. It has not been determined if the death was a homicide or an accident, Fixler said.