YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio ( WKBN) — Detectives have a suspect in a shooting at an East Side park and are looking to identify other people involved.
Michael Walker, 31, is charged with felonious assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm for a June 16 shooting that wounded a man at John White Park.
The man was shot in the hip near a fence at a parking area at the park. Walker, who police say is in a white tank top, pulled up in a car, got out of the passenger’s side of the car, ran toward the man and fired several shots before running back to his car.
The other man got out of a second car and also fired a gun. Bullets can be seen skipping off the pavement in the surveillance video.
Several children and others were in a pavilion in the park at the time of the shooting. The video shows the victim running into the park past the children.
The people in the pavilion begin to scatter as the gunmen fired several shots at the victim, some of them tripping over each other and falling to the ground on top of each other.
“We’re very fortunate no one else was killed or shot by accident,” said the main investigator Detective Sgt. Anthony Vitullo.
Vitullo said the shooting happened because of a disagreement over “words spoken” to some children.
Awad said the shooters did not care who was around.
“These assailants had no regard for the safety of the children in the park,” said Lt. Mohammad Awad with the Detective Bureau. “We need help identifying these people so we can remove them from the streets.”
Walker is not yet in custody.
Anyone who has information on anyone involved in the crime or knows who the second person in the video is can call Vitullo at 330-742-8250.