Juvenile leads police on foot chase after allegedly making gun threat
BOARDMAN — A teenager is in police custody after allegedly pulling a gun on someone at his girlfriend’s home and then leading police on a foot chase in frigid temperatures.
The boy, 14, is in detention at Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center and may be sent back to Jefferson County where he is wanted on felony warrants.
The Boardman police report states the boy was arrested Tuesday afternoon following an hours-long pursuit through woods and neighborhoods.
The report states the incident began when the girl’s mother and the mother’s boyfriend had a verbal argument that morning and the girl got involved. During the argument, the man said the boy pulled out a Taurus handgun with a 30-round clip, pointed it at the man’s head and said, “I’ll blow you right now.”
The report states the girl refused to cooperate with police and would not tell them anything about the boy or share information from her phone with them to track him.
The report states that when police arrived, the girl’s mother was not there because she had gone to the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office to obtain a protection order against her boyfriend, who refused to move out.
She told police that the man is a narcissist who makes things up and that there was no gun involved. She refused to let police search her daughter’s room and said she would do it and call them if she found anything.
The girl told police that the boy is from Steubenville and had been staying there for a week. Police contacted Steubenville police, who provided identifying information and notified Boardman that the boy has warrants for having weapons while prohibited, a third-degree felony; receiving stolen property, a fourth-degree felony; two counts of obstructing official business, a fifth-degree felony; and theft and resisting arrest, both first-degree misdemeanors.
Police first spotted the boy near the Southern Boulevard home as he fled across the street and into the woods. The report states several people in the area reported seeing the boy running through backyards. Police allegedly followed him through several neighborhoods, including Forest Ridge Drive, Maplewood Drive, Meadowbrook Avenue, Indianola Road, Holm Way, Glenridge Road, Midwood Circle, Ridgefield Avenue, Mathews Road and Simon Road.
At one point police maintained a presence around Robinwood Lane Elementary, which was placed in a “soft lockdown” to be sure the boy did not enter or hover around the school. Boardman eventually called in a Youngstown Police Department police dog to continue tracking the boy.
The report states police received a tip that the boy was trying to steal a car from a garage on Meadowbrook and cornered him there. The boy had crawled underneath a wooden deck. When he failed to respond to calls to come out and remained hidden even after they tossed a canister of pepper spray under the deck, police had to crawl under and pull the boy out.
The report states the boy had wounds on his hands from jumping fences. An ambulance was called to administer immediate medical attention because of the time the boy had spent in sub-20-degree temperatures. He was taken to Akron Children’s Boardman Campus for evaluation before being transferred to detention.