Newton Falls shooting death ruled accidental

NEWTON FALLS

The Trumbull County coroner has ruled that Howard Smith’s death early Saturday from a gunshot to the head was an accident.

Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, county coroner, said he issued the ruling in consultation with detectives with the Trumbull County Homicide Task Force.

Smith’s girlfriend, who said her name was Tammie Szesze, called 911 at 12:37 a.m., asking for help at the Newton Village apartment she shared with Smith, 49, on Ridge Road.

Szesze, sounding panicked, asked for help, saying Smith had just shot himself in the head and that she was now holding the gun he had used.

“Howie, please hold on,” she said to Smith as she spoke with the dispatcher and urged the dispatcher to hurry.

The dispatcher kept Szesze on the phone while ambulance personnel and police headed there.

When asked what happened, Szesze said the two were “laying in bed, and he was showing me the gun, and he said it wasn’t loaded.

“He’s like, ‘Pull the trigger,’ and I said no, and he took it and pulled the trigger and it had a shell in it,” she said.

The dispatcher asked if it was an “accident,” and Szesze said, “I guess so or he meant to do it. I don’t know.”

Smith was pronounced dead at the scene.

Read more about the decision in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.