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WARREN -- Michael A. Sloan Jr., 24, of Maryland Street NW, was arraigned Friday in Warren Municipal Court on felony tampering with evidence and misdemeanor assault, using weapons while intoxicated and discharging firearms in a Thursday night incident in which another man was shot in the leg in the Warren Heights apartments on Maryland Street NW.
Sloan was not charged with intentionally shooting the victim. Witnesses said the shooting was an accident.
A Warren police report states that officers were called to the 400 block of Maryland Street NW, the Warren Heights Apartment complex, at 7:59 p.m. An officer spoke with a woman, who said her boyfriend had been shot and led the officer to the apartment. She said all she knew was that she heard a shot.
Inside the apartment was the victim and a man sitting in a chair. The victim was standing up "in visible pain." There was blood on his right pants leg. When he was asked what happened, he said he did not know. He was sitting at a table playing video games when he was shot.
The officer instructed the victim to sit down, and the officer went to his cruiser and got a tourniquet. When he returned Sloan was sitting in a chair next to him behaving as if he was extremely nervous, the report states.
When Sloan was asked what happened, he said he did not know.
After applying the tourniquet, the officer learned from dispatch that the suspect was wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt. Because of Sloan's behavior and because he "matched the description" given of the suspect, the officer detained him. When the officer patted him down, he felt a gun holster, but there was no gun in it. Sloan said he had not yet bought the gun for it.
Another officer escorted Sloan to a police cruiser. An officer saw a bullet shell casing on the floor near a location where a bullet had struck the floor of the home. The people in the home were asked again what happened, and they said they did not know. The officer said if it was an accident, they should tell him.
The victim said he and Sloan were playing video games when Sloan pulled out a gun and it went off. A third man in the home said Sloan was "playing with the gun and that he should not even have a gun for this reason." Everyone said the shooting was an accident. Officers were told that they told Sloan to get rid of the gun, but they don't know where he put it.
With help from the third man, an officer found a bullet shell casing in the garbage can in the house.
When ambulance personnel arrived, they cut the victim's pants off and took him to St. Joseph Warren Hospital for treatment.
An officer reviewed surveillance videos and saw Sloan leaving the apartment and then returning about 30 seconds later.
An officer advised that Sloan was giving officers a "runaround, leading them to the wrong places to look for the gun." Evidence from the scene was collected, but the gun was not found, the report states.
Officers took Sloan to the Trumbull County jail on several criminal charges. He posted bond and was released from the jail Friday after his arraignment.