Two dead, three injured in Howland shooting
HOWLAND — Two people are dead, three more are badly injured and police have a man in custody from a chaotic shooting scene that unfolded Saturday on busy state Route 46.
Calls flooded the Trumbull County 911 Center shortly before 4:30 p.m. of a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt shooting into a gold or tan-colored minivan at 1564 Niles Cortland Road near Dawson Drive SE.
Callers told dispatchers a woman was dead inside the van and a man with a bloodied face ran into traffic.
Arrested in connection was Nasser Hamad, 47, who is being held in the Trumbull County Jail on a charge of aggravated murder, said acting Howland police Chief Sgt. Jennifer Carr. Hamad was walking back into the home with a gun when police arrived, Carr said.
The victims’ names are not being released until family has been notified, Carr said.
One person was pronounced dead at the scene and a second died at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, said Trumbull County Sheriff Paul Monroe. The remaining shooting victims were taken to St. Elizabeth’s, but their conditions were not available late Saturday night.
Police believe the shooting was the result of an ongoing dispute between Hamad and the victims, who Carr said all were shot inside the van in the home’s driveway.
Police are expected to release more information today.
Residents and businesses along the busy road were locked down and a few 911 callers abandoned their vehicles and ran when gunfire erupted, according to 911 calls. One of the callers, an emergency medical technician, told dispatchers he stopped to help the man with the bloody nose who was yelling for help when a man came out of the house and “opened fire.”
“I tried to escape, but the only way out was where he was so I just left my truck and ran,” the caller said.
Trisha Stark, 51, who wasn’t home at the time, returned to find a police blockade in her neighborhood.
Stark, who lives next door to where the shooting happened, said she was concerned about her neighbor, Hamad, who runs a construction business from his home.
Stark said she didn’t know what led to the altercation, but neighbors who saw it unfold said no one got out of the van.
Monroe, the former chief in Howland, said there is history of police activity at the home.
This is the second fatal shooting in Howland this month. On Feb. 7, Howland police Chief Nick Roberts and Assistant Chief Jeff Urso shot Richard Latimer, 34, to death in the parking lot of the Howland Giant Eagle after he drew his weapon on them. Latimer was a suspect in the shooting death of Van Blevins, 44, earlier that night in Weathersfield.