City cops seek 'multiple suspects' in homicide

By JOE GORMAN

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Police say they want to talk to “multiple suspects” as they continued Wednesday to investigate a North Side homicide where they collected more than 50 shell casings Tuesday.

The Mahoning County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as Savon Young, 25, of Youngstown. His death is the eighth homicide in Youngstown this year.

Young was killed at a 135 Tod Lane home that was once boarded up by the city in 2009 because of illegal drug sales, and has been known as trouble recently, along with two adjoining homes, for drug sales.

Young had just pleaded guilty in municipal court March 26 to a misdemeanor public-indecency charge. He had a similar charge in 2018 in Mahoning County Area Court in Boardman.

Court records show in 2012 he pleaded guilty to an aggravated burglary out of Austintown and was sentenced to three years in prison. That is the only felony on his record.

Call logs show that police have been called to the home where Young was killed eight times since the beginning of 2018. In 2009, the home was boarded up for two weeks when the city tried to get it declared a nuisance because of drug sales. The city agreed, however, to let a woman rent out the home after she promised to evict the people who were causing the problems. The home is now owned by someone else.

Wednesday, detectives and crime scene personnel were still trying to process all the evidence collected at the crime scene, which stretched about 100 yards east from a vacant lot just before 163 Tod Lane to the home where Young was killed.

A pickup truck that was traveling down the street at the time of the shooting collided with a car that was involved in the shooting, and the driver’s-side window and back window were shot out.

The two occupants were taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital to be treated for injuries, which Lt. Brian Welsh said he believed were related to the accident. Welsh said the two had nothing to do with the shooting.

Witnesses described a Dodge Charger as one of the cars involved in the shooting, and police are on the lookout for that type of car.

Welsh said police are seeking “multiple suspects” to talk to because multiple weapons were used. At least one of those weapons was an assault rifle or semiautomatic rifle, making Young’s death the second in the city this year where a rifle was used.

Both Welsh and Capt. Brad Blackburn, chief of detectives, said they were amazed no one else was hit by the gunfire, let alone killed. The fact the shooting took place in broad daylight on a bright, sunny day shows that those involved did not care who or what else they may have hit, both detectives said.

“It shows a lack of respect for life and a lack of respect for anything else,” Welsh said.

Just a couple of hours before the Tod Lane shooting, police were called to a shooting in a parking lot in the 600 block of Kendis Circle where a woman was wounded and officers found 9 mm shell casings and spent shotgun shells. The woman, shot four times, is expected to recover.

Welsh said detectives are looking to see if there is any way that shooting is tied in with Young’s death, but as of Wednesday, Blackburn said he does not believe there is a connection.

Because of the large crime scene and crowd, police had nine patrol officers guarding the scene. Welsh lauded their efforts at keeping the crowd calm. Three officers from the crime lab also were on hand, one more than usual for a homicide. Detectives were looking for leads and people to question Wednesday, including the people who may have been in or owned two cars left at the scene.

In 2018, Youngstown recorded 26 homicides.

If anyone has information about the shooting, contact the detective division at 330-742-8911 or the patrol commander’s office at 330-742-8950. Tips also can be called into Crime Stoppers at 330-746-CLUE (2583).