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Hermitage shooting suspect arrested in Kinsman

KINSMAN — A man police believe shot two people Thursday in Hermitage, Pa., is in the Trumbull County Jail after sheriff’s deputies arrested him at a motel in Kinsman.

Justin Mason Hepfl, 28, who has addresses in Brookfield and in Sharon, Pa., faces three charges each of attempted homicide and aggravated assault in connection to an early morning shooting that left two men hurt at the Chalet Apartments in Hermitage.

He was arrested in Kinsman after deputies spotted the blue Chevrolet Cruze police believed the shooter was driving at the Green Acres Motel on state Route 7, said Hermitage police Chief Eric Jewell.

Hepfl will have an extradition hearing 9 a.m. Monday before Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter Kontos to be taken back to Pennsylvania to face the charges.

Injured in the shooting were David Brock, 24, of Sharpsville, Pa., and Eli Porter, 20, of Sharon. Brock, who was shot in the thigh, is in stable condition and Porter, who was shot in the back, is in serious condition, at a local trauma center. Jewell declined to say at which hospital the men are being treated.

Police were called just after 7 a.m. to Sharon Regional Hospital for two men with gunshot wounds and worked backward to determine the shooting happened at the apartment complex on Dutch Lane, where police found shell casings in the parking lot, Jewell said.

“They canvassed the neighborhood and it led them to an apartment, which also happened to be an apartment of one of the victims,” Jewell said.

From inside the apartment, police took guns and marijuana, the chief said.

The chief said the investigation is ongoing, but it’s believed the shooting was retaliatory in nature and related to drugs.

“I had four investigators working on this for well over 12 hours straight. It was a tremendous undertaking. They beat a lot of bushes and they pounded a lot of ground,” said Jewell, who added the department received a great amount of help from Brookfield, Kinsman and Sharon police departments and the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office.

rselak@tribtoday.com

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