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Teen charged in assault, attempted theft of $1K shoes

YOUNGSTOWN — A boy, 14, was arrested in an 8:45 p.m. Sunday shooting of a boy, 12, on Gibson Street near Cambridge Avenue on the South Side.

Police say the suspect, who has been charged with felonious assault and aggravated robbery, shot the victim while trying to rob him of his shoes, which cost about $1,000, said Capt. Jason Simon of the Youngstown Police Department.

“This was a case of a robbery, and the 14-year-old wanted the shoes, and was going to take them by any means necessary. In this case, he shot at, injured the 12-year-old, didn’t get the shoes and ran away from the scene,” the captain said.

It appears that the boys knew each other, but they were not “friends, enemies, anything like that. I think they knew of each other.” Simon said investigators are “looking for the exact reason or why this conflict happened at this point in time, but it’s undisputed that the shooter wanted and tried to rob the victim of his shoes because of the value.”

The victim was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital and was in stable condition Monday, according to a police report. The suspect was taken to the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Juvenile Justice Center and will have his first hearing today.

Youngstown police detectives were going to consult with the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office on what charges the boy will face, the release states.

Officers were first notified at 8:45 p.m. of a ShotSpotter notification for Gibson Avenue near Cambridge and soon thereafter received a call that a shooting had occurred at that location, the release states.

Youngstown police patrol officers, detectives and crime scene personnel carried out an investigation, and a “suspect was developed” before they made the arrest, the release states.

Simon said there was an earlier time when there were people being robbed when they met up with someone to sell items through online sale sites, but he has not seen a case like this in the city in a while.

Simon said the actions of the 14-year-old are “disturbing on a number of levels, not only to have the thought to have that behavior but also this 14-year-old has this firearm in his possession.”

Have an interesting story? Contact Ed Runyan by email at erunyan@vindy.com. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @TribToday.

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