City police seek suspect in car chase, shooting

City police are looking for a maroon sedan linked to an afternoon shooting.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — One man is in the hospital after a car chase ended in gunfire.

City police were called to a shooting outside a home on East Myrtle Avenue shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday.

Officers said the car chase ended when the victim, Gary Robins, 50, backed his black Mazda into the side of the home that sits on East Myrtle just behind the Gateway Gas Mart on South Avenue.

The shooter got out of his car and fired at least two shots into the Mazda, hitting the victim, police said. The shooter was seen driving a maroon, older-model Chevrolet or Buick.

“The victim never got out of his car, but the shooter chased him down,” officers said.

Police said they don’t believe the house and its occupants are tied to the shooting, though the homeowner told police he thinks he knows the victim.

No weapons were found on Robins or in his car, police said. He was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown with gunshot wounds to the chest and leg, according to a police report.

Officials at St. Elizabeth would not disclose Robins’ condition because he is a victim of a crime.

Several neighbors were outside as police secured the crime scene. They all said they either didn’t see anything — or didn’t want to speak out and share the victim’s fate.

One woman said, “They might know me. I don’t want to get shot up, too.”

The suspect is a 6-foot-tall, 190-pound black male around age 20, according to the report.

When interviewed by police in the ambulance, Robins said, “Chris shot me,” according to the report.