YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Reports said police pulled over a car early Saturday that was suspected of being used in an earlier shooting and arrested five men on gun charges. Officers also reported finding four guns, drugs and cash.
Three men from Youngstown — Michael Moore, 50, Arthur Thomas, 44, and Reginald White, 52 — were booked into the Mahoning County Jail on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle. A fourth Youngstown man, Jimmie Moore, 60, was booked into the jail on charges of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and two counts of possession of drugs.
A Boardman man, Bryant Torres, 32, was booked into the jail on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle.
All five men are expected to be arraigned today in municipal court.
They were arrested at about 1:55 a.m. Saturday after officers in the Neighborhood Response Unit spotted a car that was believed to have been used in a shooting late Friday in the 100 block of South Lakeview Avenue on the South Side.
Police spotted the car at the Shell Station on South Avenue and pulled it over at Erie Street and East Marion Avenue for no registration sticker. Before the car stopped, two guns were thrown out the window, which were later found, reports said. Reports said when police approached the car, there were two guns in plain view and everyone inside the car, which Michael Moore was driving, was ordered out.
Police searched the car and found fentanyl, crack cocaine and $1,369 cash where Jimmie Moore was sitting, reports said. Also inside the car was a loaded AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and a 9mm semiautomatic pistol.
In the street where the guns were thrown, police found an AK-47 type pistol and a 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Reports said one of the 9mm pistols was reported stolen in 2020 from Youngstown.
Police were looking for the car in connection with a shooting at about 11:10 p.m. on South Lakeview Avenue. Police received several calls for gunfire, and when they arrived, they found several people in the street. The homeowner allowed police inside to search for any victims.
No one was inside, but police did find several fresh bullet holes in the house. No one was injured.
In the street, officers found 10 5.56-caliber shell casings; eight 7.62mm shell casings; and two .45-caliber shell casings.
AK-47-type weapons fire 7.62mm rounds and AR-15s fire 5.56-caliber ammunition.
No one has been charged yet for the house being shot up.
In July, a man was wounded in a shooting on South Lakeview Avenue after the car he was driving was fired at several times.
