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YOUNGSTOWN -- LaJena Solomon, mother of Landon Lockhart, 14, who was found shot to death Jan. 13, 2022, in a wooded area off of North Truesdale Avenue on the East Side, has filed a federal lawsuit against two Youngstown police officers and the city.
The lawsuit names officers Robert Gentile and Hannah Short as defendants and alleges the defendants "failed to administer protective services in a nondiscriminatory manner, consistent with Youngstown Police Department's custom or policy of failing to investigate cases involving missing persons and / or children of color."
The suit states that Landon went missing from his mother's home about 11 p.m. Nov. 21, 2021, and Solomon called the Youngstown Police Department to report him missing, saying it was unlike him to stay away from home so long without speaking to his family.
Youngstown police came to her home Nov. 22 to make out a report after Solomon called a second time. They filed the report Nov. 23, classifying Landon as a "runaway," rather than a "missing child," the suit states. The difference between the two is that a "runaway" does not meet the criteria for an AMBER alert under state law, but a "missing child" does.
"Further, runaways are less likely to garner media attention than missing children and receive less urgent police responses," the suit states, giving as example the www.blackandmissing inc.com website.
The website states there is disparity in the amount of news media coverage of minority missing children compared to white missing children and says it is because "missing minority adults are labeled as associated with criminal involvement, gangs and drugs, and it is believed that missing minorities live in impoverished conditions, and crime is a regular part of their lives."
The suit states that despite Solomon and her family insisting that Landon had not run away and their concern he was in danger, the Youngstown Police Department "continued to treat him as a runaway and failed to investigate his case with urgency."
The police could have tracked Landon's location using his cellphone or Apple watch and did not alert the news media to "secure community engagement," it adds. Solomon's niece, Jennifer Kirk, contacted local news stations after Landon disappeared, "but because he was classified by YPD as a 'runaway,' his story was repeatedly declined coverage," it adds.
Short told Solomon that because Landon was a "runaway," they must have a medical concern to request media coverage, the suit states.
The police department declined to involve the media until Jan. 4, 2022, when Gentile issued a statement citing concern that Landon might be in danger. "But it was too little too late," the suit alleges.
Solomon, meanwhile, posted flyers, reached out to Landon's friends and the community, retrieved her son's cell records and tried to track the location of his cellphone and Apple watch. But Apple said it would need a subpoena from police to access and share her son's location information. Solomon and her daughter went to Gentile, who refused to subpoena the records, the suit states.
When asked for comment on the lawsuit, Lori Shells Simmons, Youngstown law director, said, "We cannot comment on current litigation at this time. However, please feel free to continue to reach out to the Law Department."
An attempt to find out from county prosecutors Tuesday what day they believe Landon was killed was not successful, but Landon's death certificate states he died approximately Dec. 22, 2021.
Landon's Apple watch was on his person when police discovered his body, the suit states.
The filing gives examples of two white females whose disappearance was taken more seriously. One was Amy Hambrick, 29, who disappeared in 2017 and was identified in September 2022 as being the woman whose remains were found on the East Side the previous August.
Another was Whitnee Bender, 12, a white child who disappeared from the front porch of her guardian's home Nov. 19, 2023, and was returned safely to her home Nov. 25 after police "engaged the media to solicit information from the community regarding Whitnee's whereabouts."
The suit states that the "YPD responded promptly to reports of Whitnee's disappearance."
The suit claims Landon'a case is a wrongful death and that the actions of the city, Gentile and Short "caused Landon's death" by not taking the steps they could have to find him.
"Reasonable police acting in a nondiscriminatory manner would have made reasonable and concerted efforts to return a minor child safely to his parent's custody," the suit states.
The suit was filed by attorneys Ashlie Case Sletvold and Heaven Jaafar of Cleveland.