WARREN — A man accused of firing a gun outside a city gas station in April pleaded guilty this week to charges of felonious assault and discharge of a firearm on/near prohibited premises, both with a one-year gun specification.

Makai J. Sims, 26, Heather Lane NW, Warren, was indicted in early June on the same charges, but the second charge carried a three-year gun specification. He will be sentenced by Judge Cynthia Westcott after the Trumbull County Adult Probation Department completes a background investigation, but he faces at least a mandatory one-year term because of the firearm charge.

Sims was arrested around 2 a.m. April 14 after officers were called to the Sunoco at 805 W. Market St. for reports of shots being heard, where witnesses said a man in a black jacket with white sleeves was shooting a gun. Officers located Sims, who was apprehended near his vehicle.

The report states Sims was bleeding from his hand and told officers that the firearm was in his right pocket, which an officer retrieved, noting there was blood on it.

Officers located several bullet casings on the gas station’s north side between the building and the gas pumps and a white jacket and wallet near the building’s east side.

The report states officers noticed blood near the building’s door and in the parking lot, and an inspection of the gas station’s interior revealed a live cartridge on the floor near the checkout counter and a damaged cooler — all of which were photographed. The bullet casings were handled for DNA testing.

Sims was transported to the Trumbull County jail on charges of attempted felonious assault and discharge of a weapon in city limits. Bond was set at $500,000 for his felonious assault charge after Warren Municipal Court Judge Patricia Knepp determined him to be a “risk of serious physical harm to the community,” court records show.

He has been in the Trumbull County jail since his arrest, jail records show.

OTHER CASES

Also pleading guilty this week before Westcott was Ethan Carpenter, 21, of Stephens Avenue NW, Warren, who pleaded to a third-degree felony escape charge. The judge immediately sentenced him to 18 months in prison, court records show.

Carpenter was serving time in the Northeast Ohio Community Alternative Program (NEOCAP) for convictions on theft and receiving stolen property. He escaped from authorities while on an April 6 medical appointment and was arrested later that day.

Joshua A. Dillow, 27, of Duke Avenue SE, Warren, was sentenced to 17 months in prison after being convicted of a fourth-degree felony charge of carrying a concealed weapon that resulted from a Warren police investigation. Westcott ruled that Dillow was at a high risk to reoffend, so she did not think probation was appropriate, according to the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office.