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Details fuzzy in killing of Boardman teen

BOARDMAN — A witness to a fatal shooting Thursday told township police the suspect was playing with a gun, and the shooting was accidental.

But Emanuel Boyd, who is in the Mahoning County jail, told police another story, according to a police report: He appears to placed blame on a black sedan that pulled up with its lights off while he and Kane Wiesensee were in the street on West Boulevard.

The report also notes Boyd’s “conflicting statements” to police.

Bond is set at $250,000 for Boyd in connection with the Thursday fatal shooting of Wiesensee.

Boyd was arraigned Thursday night in Boardman court on a murder charge, where no plea was entered.

His preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Wiesensee, 18, was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Todd Werth, Boardman Township police chief, said the last time there was a homicide in the township was 2014.

When officers first arrived at 5515 West Blvd. just before 1 a.m. Thursday, Boyd was at the front door of the house, waving to officers. He led them inside to the living room, where blood droplets were observed inside the foyer.

According to the police report, a witness informed officers that she “heard a loud bang” while she was sleeping on a couch in the first-floor living room.

Awakened, she saw Wiesensee “stumbling in and saying he was shot in the chest.” The witness was holding Wiesensee on the couch when officers arrived.

Police saw Wiesensee struggling to breathe, prompting an officer to begin CPR.

Later, the witness told investigators that Boyd had a gun “and was playing with it,” adding she believed the incident was an accident.

The witness told a detective that “Manny shot Kane,” and began to cry, the report states.

She also said that Boyd “started freaking out and Kane started screaming,” also describing that she felt “the heat from the shot.”

The police investigation was continuing on Friday.

As officers responded from U.S. Route 224 to the emergency call early Thursday, they noted that no vehicles passed them.

Boyd said the incident happened north of the residence, as he and Wiesensee were out in the street and a black sedan with its lights off pulled up. The narrative offers no other details about the sedan ecountering the two men.

Upon arrival, officers did not observe sets of footprints or tire tracks in fresh snow.

Officers told Boyd they only saw one set of footprints in the snow, with Boyd directing them to the south entrance of the driveway and saying: “They may have walked up that way” and “I don’t know.”

When Boyd was escorted away from the scene, officers noticed the pattern his shoes made in the snow matched the tracks in the yard.

Boyd was not allowed to wash his hands and was escorted to a police car.

Officers said it appeared the prints exited the residence, in a large circular pattern to the roadway, a nearby house and back to the residence.

Officers did not observe blood with any of the tracks, the report states.

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