‘There’s no winners in this situation’
Warren officials, 9-year-old victim’s mother address recent shooting
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WARREN -- The mother of the 9-year-old girl who was struck Sunday morning by a stray bullet joined Mayor Doug Franklin, Safety Service Director Eddie Colbert and police Capt. Robert Massucci for a news conference Tuesday afternoon to address the most recent shooting incident in the city.
Massucci said police recovered video surveillance footage from the Big Apple convenience store on Youngstown Road showing that Say'Quan Parks allegedly was involved in a shootout during which his gunfire was directed in the area of the home in the 800 block of Kenilworth Avenue, where 9-year-old A'Kasha Taylor-Robinson was shot while asleep on a couch.
That footage, Massucci said during the press conference, was used to help identify Parks, 22, of East Avenue SE, as the suspect only hours after the shooting occurred. Parks led police on a brief foot pursuit before being arrested. According to Massucci, Parks was found to be in possesion of the firearm police believe was used in the shooting.
"We believe it's some kind of past event that occurred that angered one or both sides," Massucci said, emphasizing that the shooting between the two parties "was not just a random thing."
"We can tell that the individuals were looking for the suspect," Massucci said. "So they kind of initiated the contact, and he (Parks) kind of understood that there was going to be something that was going to occur once he exited the Big Apple.
"Our feeling is he pre-empted their strike, thinking they were going to do the same thing to him."
Appearing in Warren Municipal Court on Tuesday for a video arraignment, Parks entered a not guilty plea before Judge Thomas Gysegem. He was arrested by Bazetta police, according to Trumbull County jail records.
Parks faces charges of felonious assault, having weapons while not allowed, obstructing official business and carrying concealed weapons. Gysegem ordered no bond be set for Parks, whose next court hearing will be June 29. Parks' court records state he is "a public safety threat."
FRANKLIN'S MESSAGE
Franklin, who has been urging the community to "put the guns down" said he will continue spreading that message as this marks the third weekend of gun-related violence in Warren.
"My message to these young people who are the perpetrators and instigators of this, the senseless acts of criminal action, will be treated as such," Franklin said. "To the young people I'd like to drive home a message that there's no winners in this situation. You have a family that's traumatized, that young girl, facing years of trauma."
He urged parents to get more involved and seek help for their children. The mayor also told the youth to rethink their lifestyle, saying that there's always time for them to change and live a good life.
Challenging the root causes that lead to such violence, Franklin said, "We have to see that there's a way out of poverty and incarceration."
He continued, "There's a way out of the cycle of poverty and incarceration. We have to do more to create educational and employment opportunities to create a sense of hope that inspires the youth to do more than fall into desperation and destruction. That's what part of my mission as mayor has been since day one is to work toward creating those opportunities."
To help reach some of those youth before they fall through the cracks, Franklin highlighted that a number of summer enrichment programs will take place that aimed at showing the youth, "a better way," as opposed to facing long-term consequences stemming from negative actions.
A description of additional suspects and surveillance footage will not be released to the public. Massucci reasoned that police have an idea of the suspects involved in the shooting and now it's a matter of matching the physical descriptions gathered from the footage to the suspects that police have in mind.
The captain said he hopes that given how young the victim is, it'll be the "straw that broke the camel's back," in curbing recent violence.
"That's going to help us create a better situation, and we'll have less incidents of violence like this. I'm hoping that that's what's going to come out of this," Massucci said.
A'KASHA'S RECOVERY
Since the shooting, Misti Taylor, the mother of A'Kasha, said that her daughter has not felt safe at home. However, she did say news of the shooter being arrested did help ease her child's tension.
"When I tell you the relief that came across this little girl she looked like a huge weight has just been lifted off of her, it's a relief," Taylor said. "She's terrified, she's scared and she's more so confused because she doesn't understand why something like this has happened to her."
Taylor gave thanks to the community who she said with help of family has been showering A'Kasha with love and support in the form of sending gifts, giving their well-wishes, and prayers as her daughter recovers.
The night of the shooting, A'Kasha initially was taken to the trauma center at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital and was later transported to Akron Children's Hospital.
Her mother said the bullet lodged into her daughter's arm and shattered the bone. The girl underwent surgery on Sunday in Akron to repair the damaged arm and remove the bullet. Taylor said that a 9-inch pin was inserted into her daughter's arm to hold the bone together and allow it to heal.