YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown police have arrested Jules L. Freeman, 21, of New Philadelphia in the Jan. 22 shooting death of Allen P. May, 23, on Evergreen Avenue near Erie Street on the South Side.

Freeman was arraigned Wednesday in Youngstown Municipal Court on complicity to murder, a charge that carries a possible prison sentence of 15 years to life if convicted.

A Youngstown police news release states that after investigating the case throughout the day and evening of Jan. 22, police were able to retrieve evidence and served a search warrant in New Philadelphia, in cooperation with the New Philadelphia Police Department.

After considering the evidence, the Youngstown Prosecutor’s Office filed the charge against Freeman on Tuesday.

Freeman and his attorney appeared in Youngstown Municipal Court to answer to the warrant, and Freeman was booked into the Mahoning County jail.

He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. Feb. 12 in municipal court.

Freeman was charged with felony drug possession in New Philadelphia Municipal Court Jan. 25, for a Jan. 23 offense, according to court records.

He also had a preliminary hearing in that case Wednesday in New Philadelphia Municipal Court, and the drug charge was bound over to Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court. His attorney is Ed Hartwig of Youngstown.

Numerous Youngstown police detectives worked “quickly and ceaselessly in pursuing evidence, leads and the suspect in this case,” the Youngstown news release in the May case states. “However, the arrest could not have been made without the continued cooperation from our community, who understands that the violence must stop and that those responsible will be caught by law enforcement.”

The Mahoning County Coroner’s Office was notified at 1:24 p.m. Jan. 22 of May’s death. He was shot in Youngstown and taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

The police department reported the day of the shooting that the department was made aware of May arriving at the hospital at 1:12 p.m. in a personal vehicle. He was pronounced dead later.

An officer responded to the hospital and found a vehicle near the entrance to the emergency room and blood on the ground, a police report stated.

Officers determined that a “possible scene” for the shooting was East Evergreen Avenue at Erie Street. Officers “located” that scene and contacted detectives and crime scene personnel to investigate.

It was the first homicide of the year in the city.

The most recent homicide before that was the Dec. 10 shooting death of Ty’Rice Logan, 26, whose body was found near the sidewalk near Miss Daisy’s Place, 2210 South Ave., with multiple gunshot wounds.

The police department announced Dec. 27 that a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Jonthony Altreche, 19, in Logan’s death.

Police said Altreche “should be considered armed and dangerous.

Altreche was charged with murder Dec. 15. That charge also carries a possible penalty of 15 years to life if convicted.

Altreche is 5-foot-10 and 125 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

The Logan killing was the third of three that took place in less than 24 hours over a weekend — Dec. 9 and early Dec. 10. Capt. Jason Simon of the detective division of the Youngstown Police Department said several days later that police did not think the three homicides were related.