Staff photo / Ed Runyan Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Ed Walsh played body camera video Tuesday during the trial of Kelly Wiseman of Lake Milton, who is charged with four counts of felonious assault and other offenses. He is accused of shooting onto the property of his neighbor while two police officers were there investigating what the neighbors reported to be threats and gunfire by Wiseman.

YOUNGSTOWN — Kelly P. Wiseman, 52, of Creed Road in Milton Township, went on trial Tuesday morning on four counts of felonious assault in a July 30, 2024, incident involving gunfire at his house in which his neighbors and two police officers are listed as the victims.

Milton Township police officer Carson Carrell testified Tuesday morning that he was called July 30, 2024, to a home on North Pricetown Road east of Lake Milton, where the residents reported that Wiseman had driven past their house, stopped and “screamed out the window, stating that ‘You’re the next target.'” Wiseman then drove off. The couple live on a dead-end road.

Carrell said he went to the home and spoke to John Hahn and his wife, who confirmed the report from dispatch about Wiseman. John Hahn reported that Wiseman “was shooting gunshots across the roadway” before the officer arrived. Wiseman’s house is near the crossroad of North Pricetown and Creed, not far from the couple’s home, which is on18 acres of land. The Hahns live on the opposite side of Pricetown Road from Wiseman’s house.

Carrell said the couple had finished filling out witness statements on the couple’s porch, and Carrell and an officer from Jackson Township were starting to leave the porch to speak with Wiseman when the officers started hearing gunshots. John Hahn said, “There he goes again,” Carrell said.

The first two shots did not seem like they were close, Carrell said. “The first two shots, I could tell where they were coming from. I could not tell where they were going to,” he said. “The third shot I could hear hitting the trees in the Hahns yard there.”

Carrell said, “As I was walking down that front stoop, I was just about to go in the car.” He said he had just been commenting to the other officer that it sounded like a 22-caliber weapon. “And that’s when that fourth shot occurred, hearing it in very close proximity to us.” Carrell said it was “extremely close, for sure.” The other officer was “a little bit in front of me. It sounded as if it went right in between us,” and was “very close” to both officers, Carrell said.

Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Kyle Hilles asked Carrell if a gunshot fired toward the Hahn residence from the Wiseman home would pose a risk to people at the Hahn residence.

“Oh yeah,” Carrell answered. North Pricetown Road is between the Wiseman residence and the Hahn residence, so gunshots between the two homes would travel over the North Pricetown Road, Carrell confirmed.

While playing Carrell’s body camera video for the jurors, Carrell could be heard making the remark about the firearm he heard being a 22-caliber and then a gunshot and Carrell exclaims “Jesus! Get down, Luke.” Carrell got on his portable radio and told dispatch “Shots fired. Get some (officers) here.”

When the dispatcher responded to his call, Carrell said there was “shooting at his residence at 1210 North Pricetown Road. It whizzed over my head. Nobody’s hit.”

He described what was happening during the body camera video, saying that when the fourth shot occurred, it was “in extreme proximity to us. So that is when I retreated for cover. It was very limited cover, but it was the best we had at the moment.” Carrell said of the fourth shot: “I could hear it actually go right past us. That’s how you could see my reaction there.” Carrell said the shots were coming from the Wiseman residence.

A third officer was summoned to come to the location to assist. Carrell and the other officer went to their cruisers and got their rifles and got better “cover” from any more gunshots. Carrell called for a tactical team to come to the scene. No more shots were fired after that. Wiseman was arrested that night, and Carrell took him in his cruiser to the Mahoning County jail.

Carrell testified that he was aware that police had been called to the Hahn residence prior to that day for gunfire from the Wiseman residence. He was aware of that when he was called there July 30, 2024, Carrell said.

Defense attorney Nick Cerni cross examined Carrell, asking if Carrell found any bullets after the incident July 30, 2024, and Carrell said he did not. Cerni asked if Carrell received any training that would assist him in identifying the location where shots had come from, and Carrell said he did not. He also said he does not know if a bullet was fired high in the air and came down whether it might make a “whizzing” sound.

He responded to Cerni’s question about gunshot residue by saying he did not obtain such evidence from Wiseman’s hands. He said he was not directed by detectives or his police chief to test for gunshot residue.

In addition to the four counts of felonious assault, Wiseman was indicted on one count of improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation, one count of discharge of a firearm on or near prohibited premises, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of misdemeanor aggravated menacing.

The prohibited premises charge alleges that Wiseman discharged a firearm upon or over a public road or highway and “created a substantial risk of physical harm to any person or caused serious physical harm to property.” The two officers and the two Hahns are the victims named in the four counts of felonious assault.

A jury was seated Monday before Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio. Opening statements and first witnesses were Tuesday morning.

John Hahn testified that he and his family have lived in their home since 2007. On July 30, 2024, he was working in the garage and his wife told him that Wiseman had come down the street “yelling stuff out his (truck) window,” so he called police.

He described the gunfire that officer Carrell talked about, saying there were two shots first, “and that’s when the shots came at the house,” he said. Hahn did not see Wiseman, he said. Hahn said everyone “ran for cover” toward the back of the house. His children were in the living room near the front of the house.

The trial resumes this morning.