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WARREN -- It appears the man charged with felonious assault in connection to a shooting died of natural causes in the Trumbull County Jail, according to jail officials.
Milton Kurtzman, 71, died Friday, before he could be arraigned Monday in Newton Falls Municipal Court on charges of felonious assault. Kurtzman was arrested on the charge Thursday after Allen Byler, 64, was shot three times in the abdomen and the back at 1394 Hyde Oakfield Road, Kurtzman's home.
The Trumbull County Sheriff's Office, investigating the case, has excavating equipment at the North Bloomfield home where police tape roped off part of the property.
"Yes, there is an excavator there. But beyond that, we can't can't say what we are doing. We cannot yet comment on why. We can't say anything just yet," chief Deputy Joseph Dragovich said.
Dragovich said Byler is being treated in an area hospital.
An autopsy was conducted Monday on Kurtzman. While the results will take several weeks to come back, it does not appear he died from foul play or by suicide, said Dragovich and Maj. Dan Mason, jail administrator. There are no indications Kurtzman had COVID-19, Dragovich said.
When Kurtzman was taken into custody, he showed no signs of being ill, Dragovich said.
"I was paying attention, I watched his movement. He was not out of breath. He was not struggling to walk or breathe. There was nothing to indicate he had a fever. He wasn't coughing or wiping his nose. He seemed like an elderly fellow, but he didn't appear sick," Dragovich said. "Because of COVID-19, we tweaked our intake processes, and if there was anything to indicate there was something wrong with him, we would have requested medical assistance. We would have called a doctor."
Dragovich said a corrections officer briefly spoke to Kurtzman at 6:13 p.m. Friday while checking on another inmate in a nearby cell. When the correction officer came back by Kurtzman at 6:20 p.m., he saw he had fallen over, out of his bunk.
The officer attempted to revive him, called for medical assistance and CPR was done. He was declared dead at 6:55 p.m.
"There were no signs of harm. The cells were on lockdown. There was no moving around," Dragovich said.
It appears Byler and Kurtzman were roommates, and Byler was moving out when an argument broke out, according to initial reports.
After the shooting, Kurtzman locked himself in his home, threatening to shoot anyone who came inside, a 911 call log states. Officers surrounded the home and Kurtzman was led out after relatives spoke with him. Sheriff deputies recovered two guns from the home, the 911 report states.