LeTricia Jones of Youngstown is shown in a photo with her son, John Pettiford III, whom she called Bingo. He was murdered Jan. 2 in the city, the second homicide in the city in the first two days of the new year.

YOUNGSTOWN — LeTricia Jones of Youngstown has lost three sons to violence in the city since 1993, the latest being John A. Pettiford III, 34, who was shot to death Jan. 2 — one of the first two homicides of the new year.

John, whom she called Bingo, came to visit her every day and also visited his two children “every day,” she said.

But on the afternoon of Jan. 2, he was found shot inside his car after it crashed into another vehicle at Wirt Street and Delaware Avenue on the North Side.

Capt. Rod Foley of the Youngstown Police Department said Monday detectives think Pettiford was shot somewhere else, but police had no leads in the case and asked for the public’s help.

Jones said the police have told her nothing yet, so she doesn’t know what led up to his death.

She said Bingo focused on family and got some good advice from his brother, Larry Jones Carter, before Larry was shot to death in 2006 during a pee-wee football game at South High School. Anthony Caulton of Youngstown was sentenced to 18 years to life for that crime.

Larry told Bingo, “‘You’ve got two kids. You be in their life.’ And that’s what he was,” Jones said. “Bingo was in his kids’ life every day. He was one of them ones that tried to teach his kids right from wrong.”

The other son who was murdered was Nick Carter, who was shot to death in 1993 in the parking lot of the McDonald’s restaurant on Fifth Avenue across from the Youngstown State University football stadium.

Derek Lloyd Carter was convicted of murder in the case. Both men had been at the football stadium watching a football game between Wilson and East high schools prior to the confrontation.

When asked if Bingo could have been with the wrong crowd, Jones said: “Bingo was a loner. He loved me, his car and his kids. Bingo was a fun loving person, but you never saw anyone else in Bingo’s car.”

When she saw Bingo’s two children this week, they looked lost, she said.

“Bingo was killed senselessly. I don’t know how I will hold up when it comes next week, but I’m going to hold my head up high when I walk in there to see my son,” she said of the funeral home.

“I just want these kids to stop shooting each other and get together with your kids, your mother, your father, your uncle, whoever raised you and be in their lives instead of being out there running around with guns,” she said.

“I’ve got three tragedies,” she said. “Be with your kids. Be in their life like Bingo was. Don’t be a tragedy for your parents. Be somebody for your kids. Have them look up to you. Put these guns down and be with their kids, their mothers, their family.”