YOUNGSTOWN — A federal court filing describes threats an FBI agent says the father of Friday afternoon’s homicide victim on Market Street made on his Facebook page that evening.

The postings, including videos, threatened to take revenge on those involved in his son’s death and family members of those involved.

The threats led to city man Damon Irby Sr., 44, being arrested Tuesday and placed in the Mahoning County jail.

Irby Sr. will remain in the jail at least until a detention hearing in U.S. District Court on Monday, according to federal court documents. A criminal complaint filed Tuesday accuses him of being a felon in possession of a firearm related to a 2019 investigation.

SON KILLED

The affidavit states that Damon Irby Jr., 19, was shot to death at 4:30 p.m. Friday while driving a sport-utility vehicle in the 3400 block of Market Street in Youngstown.

The Youngsown Police Department issued a news release on the killing Friday, but has not released the name of the victim.

While Irby Jr. was sitting at a traffic light, a white van approached the driver’s side of his SUV and then one or more people from the van fired gunshots at Irby Jr., who was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital and later pronounced dead, according to the affidavit.

That evening, the FBI agent began to monitor the publicly available Facebook page of Damon Irby Sr. and saw videos posted there in which Irby Sr. made threatening statements toward the people responsible for his son’s death.

In one four-minute video, Irby Sr. stated: “Jail ain’t an option. Jail ain’t near an option. The police know they got to kill me. They know what it is. It ain’t an option. You know what I’m saying? The only thing I can do is die from here.”

In a 40-minute video, Irby Sr. stated that he was determined to “find out who the (expletive) did this to my child. And I gotta chase them down. And do all of that. And they got siblings. You ‘ll can start counting your (expletive) days. If (murderer of Damon Irby Jr.) got his mom and his dad still alive. I am talking about every single one that has something to do with this (expletive).”

On Saturday, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, Youngstown police Chief Carl Davis and others had a news conference to urge the public to stay calm and not take justice into their own hands as a result of the Friday killing and one that took place late Thursday.

Officials indicated that social media remarks were a reason for the news conference but did not mention Irby Sr. by name. Davis said extra patrols would be taking place in the coming weeks in an effort to protect the community.

WEAPONS COMPLAINT

The affidavit provides further explanation of the weapons complaint, which dates back to at least Sept. 20, 2019. The affidavit states that Irby Sr. was convicted of federal crimes twice and was convicted in Mahoning County on firearm related offenses. His earlier convictions prohibited him from possessing firearms.

The affidavit described an incident Feb. 4, 2019, in which an FBI SWAT team went to a home on Delaware Avenue in Youngstown and found cocaine and a firearm. Irby Sr. and Irby Jr. were there. Irby Sr. was later sentenced to 14 months in federal prison for violating the terms of his federal probation because of the presence of illegal substances at the home, the affidavit states.

erunyan@tribtoday.com