‘The violence has to stop’ | Youngstown shooting victim ID’d, including 10-year-old girl

YOUNGSTOWN — The Rev. Lewis Macklin said "there is no excuse or justification for such a heinous act" as the early Wednesday shooting that killed 10-year-old Persayus Davis-May at her Samuel Avenue home.

"This is a dark day for our community," said a tearful Mayor Jamael Tito Brown during a midday media briefing, broadcast live by WKBN. "Probably the darkest I've ever had as mayor.

"Any loss is unacceptable, but when you have an innocent 10-year-old child, a victim of senseless violence — my heart aches right now."

City police on Wednesday investigated two fatal shootings which they believe are connected, including the mass shooting outside Davis-May's home just before 2:30 a.m.

Davis-May, identified Wednesday by the Mahoning County Coroner's Office as a 10-year-old girl, was killed while inside the home, city officials said. Three adults who were outside the home, two men and one woman all in their 20s, were wounded by gunfire, according to a news release from the police department. They were taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital and their conditions were reportedly stable Wednesday morning.

Minutes earlier, police had responded to the scene of another shooting death at the corner of South and Palmer avenues, about a mile south of the Samuel Avenue home where Davis-May was killed.

Police found a pickup truck that had struck a telephone pole. Its driver, identified by the coroner's office as Michael Callahan, 40, had been shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The man's passenger, a 42-year-old man, had also been shot. He was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries.

Youngstown Police Chief Carl Davis said it's possible the men in the truck exchanged gunfire with those outside the Samuel Avenue home. He told reporters Wednesday he believes the shootings are also connected to a greater epidemic of feudal gun violence that has plagued the city.

"How many times do I have to stand here and keep saying this? Enough is enough," he said. "This tragedy speaks to the brazenness of those committing these crimes."

Police are continuing to investigate both incidents and have not made any arrests, nor have they identified any suspects or all the people shot.

Tips leading to an arrest and prosecution are eligible for a monetary award. Anyone with information about the shootings is urged to call CrimeStoppers at 330-746-CLUE (746-2583) or the Youngstown Police Department at 330-742-8YPD (742-8973). Tips may be left anonymously.

Davis said the city intends to establish "criminal checkpoints" throughout the city but would not elaborate on that measure. The city last September worked with federal authorities on a weeklong operation bringing stiffer penalties for felons illegally possessing firearms, which resulted in four arrests and gun seizures.

"We've got to do everything we can and by all powers we have," Mayor Brown said Wednesday. "We will use that to find out who did this to this baby — just understand that.

"Every option is on the table right now. There's nothing in the law we won't put in place."

Gun violence is on the rise in northern Ohio cities, said Pete Elliott, U.S. Marshal for the northern district of Ohio.

"We have shooting warrant after shooting warrant in all major cities," as well as rising homicide cases from Youngstown to Akron, he said.

Federal authorities are now seeing more younger shooters — 14- and 15-year-olds, he said. Elliott reported cases in which children as young as 8 years old were killed by stray gunfire.

"It's frustrating in many ways. Definitely, there's a real issue going on in every city across our district. It's continuing to get worse," he said.

After learning of Wednesday's shootings in the city, Elliott said he reached out to Chief Davis, but had not been in contact with him. He told Mahoning Matters he's "all for" city-federal partnerships to target crime.

A Marshals-led operation in Cleveland spanning two months in 2018 focused on particular areas of the city with rampant crime, Elliott said. Authorities targeted serious parole violators and seized "a number of guns."

"We brought in the resources from everybody and had a 'zero tolerance' [policy]," he said. "If you want to make a difference in any community, it has to be zero tolerance across the board.

"Aunts and uncles and dads and moms — they're tired of these shootings," Elliott said.

Though Elliott said he believes the operation "made a difference," they're often only good while they last. They're a drain on law enforcement resources and "unfortunately, we can't continue doing it," he said.

"We need to find ways to sustain that to be able to make a real difference in the community," Elliott said.

Pastor Kenneth Simon of Youngstown's New Bethel Baptist Church said Wednesday's shootings "ought to be a pivotal moment" for the community. He urged community members with information about the shootings to speak up.

"It's a community problem. It's not a police problem. It's not the mayor's problem. It's all of our problem," Simon said. "This community has to get involved at a greater level. People who know information need to come forth and we need to solve this issue together.

"This ought to send a message to all of us how serious this is and how we have to make the sacrifice — whatever sacrifice it takes — to get involved and be part of the solution," he continued. "When we're not speaking and getting involved, we're part of the problem."

Likewise, Rev. Macklin said the responsibility is on the community to speak out against the violence. He worries people are losing hope that nothing can be done.

"We have hope. We have help among ourselves, and collectively, we can bring about a difference and make a change," he said. "I don't want anybody to throw their hands up and say, 'There's nothing I can do.' There's something for everyone to do.

"If they know something, say something. We have to eliminate the culture of, 'I don't want to get involved until it happens to my family.'"

The Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church pastor offers emotional support to city police officers as department chaplain. He said the officers who respond to fatalities — including those where children are killed — "bear the weight and burden of the call itself."

"They are not immune to the challenges that are before us. They hurt. They recognize that it could be their child as well," Rev. Macklin said.

Wednesday was also hard for Guy Burney, who heads the city's Community Initiative to Reduce Violence, as he thought about his own child.

"The violence has to stop," he told Mahoning Matters.

Burney said CIRV expects to continue its work, lending counseling to the families of the shooting victims and growing mentorship programs to help young men resolve their differences.

"At the end of the day, people are making choices that are harming our community," he said. "If there's people who are in our community and they aren't showing care for the community and they're not valuing lives, they haven't earned the right to stay in our community."

This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 3:52 AM with the headline "‘The violence has to stop’ | Youngstown shooting victim ID’d, including 10-year-old girl."