Gunfire apparently cause of Warren death, another man’s injuries

Staff report

WARREN

Aaron A. Staggers, 33, of Peace Avenue Northwest was found dead at a home in the 800 block of Woodbine Avenue Southeast.

Edwin A. Ortiz Jr., 42, of Ashtabula, was taken from the scene to the hospital a short time after the 1:59 a.m. 911 call Tuesday from a woman who alerted police that “someone just got shot in my house.”

Police radio transmissions also indicated a “car in back just got rammed by another car” at the scene. Ortiz was taken by ambulance to Trumbull Regional Medical Center for treatment of nonlife-threatening injuries, police said.

Police would not comment later on whether Ortiz’s injury was related to Staggers’ death or whether Staggers’ injuries were from gunshot wounds.

The police report listed the offenses committed as murder and felonious assault, but the Trumbull County coroner said an autopsy on Staggers’ body will be conducted today in Cleveland.

An audio recording of the 911 call suggests a number of people were in the house when the call was made.

Records indicate Staggers had been booked into the Trumbull County jail 22 times since May 2004.

Warren police have written seven reports since August 2017 involving Staggers, who had a pending felony case in county common pleas court, where he was indicted in October on three drug-possession charges.

Last August, he was arrested on a warrant after being called to the Pit Stop gas station on Youngstown Road, and police found him with a woman who had suspected heroin and cocaine in her bra. A few weeks earlier, he was arrested on Laird Avenue on a parole violation.

Last July, he was arrested on warrants after running from police at the BP gas station on East Market Street. In April, he was arrested on a warrant and traffic violations.

In February 2017, police found suspected heroin and cocaine in his clothing. That was the incident that led to his felony drug charges.

If Staggers’ death is ruled a homicide, it will be the city’s third this year. The city’s first homicide of 2018 was Feb. 25.