Youngstown news, Liberty police trying to determine how boy, 2, was shot in leg

Staff report

LIBERTY

Township police say they don’t know yet whether a boy, 2, who suffered a gunshot wound to the leg about 9 p.m. Sunday on Northgate Drive, shot himself or if someone else fired at him.

The injury is apparently not life-threatening because it has been described as “grazing,” Police Chief Rich Tisone said. The boy was awake and watching television at 11:30 p.m. Sunday at Akron Children’s Hospital in Akron, the chief said.

The boy, who lives on Parkcliffe Avenue in Youngstown, is believed to have suffered the wound in an apartment at 3015 Northgate Drive, just north of Northside Medical Center.

The boy’s mother, 19, of Parkcliffe, told police the boy shot himself. She said she saw a handgun lying on the floor after the shooting, but when police arrived, there was no handgun in the apartment, only a shell casing, Tisone said.

“What really concerns me is we don’t know if the child shot himself or if someone else shot him,” Tisone said.

The shooting occurred at a “gathering,” Tisone said, but he didn’t know what type of gathering. He said there were adults and “a lot of children” present. Tisone said he said he didn’t know how many people were there.

Police interviewed the people at the apartment Sunday, and an attempt will be made to interview the child, Tisone said, adding charges could be filed in the case depending on the evidence discovered.

A police report lists the boy’s mother’s name and address and the name and address of a woman, 41, who lives at the Northgate apartment.

Tisone said he doesn’t know the relationship between the women.

The boy’s mother drove the boy to Northside, Tisone said.

The boy was then flown by helicopter to Akron Children’s.