Man indicted on charges involving shooting at house


By Joe Gorman

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

A man who has been arrested or cited at least 27 times since 1994 was indicted Thursday by a Mahoning County grand jury on charges he shot at a woman at a West Side home.

Alexander Zack Blandon, 56, of High Street, was charged with improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation, felonious assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm with firearm specifications. He is expected to be arraigned Aug. 6 in common pleas court.

He was arrested after a June 28 incident at a home on Lakewood Avenue, where reports said he was in an argument with an ex-girlfriend and her mother.

Blandon left, then came back and fired one shot at his ex-girlfriend, but missed, hitting the house instead. Police found his car while responding and pulled him over on the Himrod Avenue Expressway, where he was taken into custody and given a gunshot residue test, the results of which are pending.

Police also recovered the bullet that was fired after digging it out of the siding and a shell casing on the street, said Detective Sgt. Nick Bailey, the lead investigator on the case.

Electronic court records from municipal court going back to 1994 show that Blandon has been arrested or cited on charges of domestic violence, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, resisting arrest, drug-abuse marijuana and several traffic violations.

The only felony he has had before Thursday’s indictments, however, was a fifth-degree felony charge of possession of cocaine in 2013 that was bound over to common pleas court. Court records show he was sentenced to two years’ probation.

He was later found to have violated his probation and was ordered to undergo rehabilitation.