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Man shot dead on East Side 1st murder of 2017
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man found shot in an East Side home had been dead about 12 hours, the deputy coroner for Mahoning County said.
Dr. Joseph Ohr said Christopher Bridges, 22, had been shot multiple times, including twice in the chest. Bridges’ body was found inside a Republic Avenue home.
His death is the first homicide of 2017 in Youngstown. In 2016, the city had 18 homicides.
Police were called to the home about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday by a friend of Bridges’ who came to the house and found him dead. Shortly after, officers called detectives, who in turn called the coroner’s office.
Capt. Brad Blackburn, chief of detectives, said the friend who discovered Bridges was a regular visitor to the home.
As police were investigating, family and friends arrived in waves at the home, with a woman berating the media.
“His mother doesn’t even know!” she shouted.
A next-door neighbor emerged from her home and when told what happened she almost collapsed. Bridges’ mother later arrived at the home and was comforted by friends and family members.
One of the patrol officers who answered the call, Bill Burton, said he knew Bridges from when he coached Bridges in football, where Bridges was a linebacker.
“He was a good kid,” Burton said.
“He was a hell of a baseball player.”
Burton also helped to comfort Bridges’ friends and relatives, who were visibly distraught.
Bridges had a minor misdemeanor disorderly-conduct conviction in August 2016.
He was arrested Jan. 3 on misdemeanor charges of failure to control, no valid driver’s license and possession of drugs.
He had a court date scheduled for those charges later this month.