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YPD looks for scene of one of two Sunday homicides
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Of the two homicides that took place hours apart Sunday, police know where one of them took place.
The second crime scene, however, has yet to be found. In that case, a man, who later died, went to a Market Street gas station in an SUV with a woman driving after the shooting.
Police Chief Robin Lees said detectives and crime scene investigators were driving around the South Side in the rain Monday trying to find where the shooting occurred.
The Mahoning County Coroner’s office identified the deceased as Trevice Harris, 37, address unknown.
Also killed about 2:50 a.m. Sunday during a shooting at the Sons of Borinquen Club, 720 Williamson Ave., was Bobby Robert Gonzalez Torres, 30, also address unknown.
Their deaths give the city 26 homicides for 2018, and 13 since Oct. 14. In 2017, Youngstown had 28 homicides.
Lees said officers were called to a 3200 Market St. gas station for a report of a man and a woman shot at an unknown location on the South Side. The woman drove to the gas station seeking help because it was one of the few places open at the time, Lees said.
Harris died at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital of his injuries. The woman is being treated there for her injuries.
Lees said detectives believe the victims were shot while they were inside their SUV, and it was parked somewhere else. He said detectives were able to get some assistance from the woman Monday afternoon about where the shooting may have taken place.
At the Sons of Borinquen Club, two women and a man were shot during a fight. Torres died.
Lees said the shooting stemmed from an earlier fight at the bar between two women.
The women’s wounds are said to be nonfatal, and they were also being treated at St. Elizabeth.
Lees said the club has not given police many problems, but he said the vice squad and state investigators will look to see if its owners are following all rules for a business that sells alcohol.
Lees said that is standard procedure whenever a shooting or homicide occurs at a bar. He said a similar investigation is taking place at a Mahoning Avenue bar where a man was shot and killed in November.
Police do have several good leads in the South Side bar shooting, Lees said. He said language hampered officers who responded, as most of the club patrons speak Spanish or little English.
One concern for the chief is for the detective team working the homicides.
Lees said the team was on call Sunday and were called out to both crime scenes. He said normal guidelines say detectives should not handle more than five homicide cases a year, and he has two handling homicide investigations the same day.
Detective Sgt. Michael Cox is the lead investigator in the Sons of Borinquen Club shooting, while his partner, Detective Sgt. Chad Zubal, is the lead investigator in the homicide Sunday night.