Man shot during robbery dies

Three teenage boys face charges, the captain of detectives said.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — A man shot inside his North Side apartment last week during a robbery has died.

William E. Howell, 47, of Dupont Street was shot in the neck around 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 and died Monday morning in St. Elizabeth Health Center, said Capt. Kenneth Centorame, chief of detectives. Detectives were not able to interview the victim before he died.

Another shooting victim, 17-year-old Joshua Dixon of Robinwood Place, remains hospitalized, Centorame said.

Two of Dixon’s companions, Gary T. Benjamin Jr. of Josephine Street and Trevon Bade of Rosewood Avenue, both 17, were charged with aggravated robbery, the captain said. Now that Howell has died, detectives will talk to the prosecutor about upgrading the charges against Benjamin and Bade and filing a charge against Dixon.

Howell is the city’s 24th homicide victim of the year. There were 29 homicides at this time last year.

First officers to arrive at Howell’s apartment in the Brier Hill Annex spoke to a friend of his, 55-year-old Maxine Kuzan, who was shot in the shoulder. The officers found Howell on a couch, bleeding from his neck and unable to speak.

One live round lay on the floor near Howell, and a casing was found near stairs to the second floor. The upstairs bedroom had been ransacked.

Kuzan told police that she let in three teenage boys, one of whom she knew as Joshua.

Reports show one of the other boys pulled a gun and asked “Where’s the gun and money?” while the second held a knife to Kuzan’s throat and told her not to move. The first boy then went upstairs after handing the gun to Dixon, police said.

Howell and Dixon shoved each other and then two gunshots were heard, police said. The boy who’d been upstairs ran down and Kuzan believes he shot her on the way out.

Dixon, who was taken to the hospital by a relative, told her on the way that he had been shot in the stomach by Howell.