YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown City Schools Athletic Department posted its condolences and “heartfelt sympathy” this week to the family of Keondre Lewis, 20, who graduated from the school district last year and was found Sunday with a fatal gunshot wound.

The post is on the “Youngstown City SD” page on Facebook.

“On behalf of Youngstown City Schools Athletics, we want to extend our deepest condolences to you and your family during this difficult time,” the message to the family states. “Please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you as you navigate this loss.”

The message contains a photo of Lewis in his East High School football jersey, holding two images reflecting his uniform No. 77 and his affiliation with the East High School Golden Bears.

Stacy Quinones, communications and public relations director for the school district, stated in an email that counselors are available to students and the district is “deeply saddened to lose a member of our YCSD family; we extend our deepest condolences during this difficult time.”

A Keondre Lewis page on the Hudl website states that Lewis was part of the Class of 2024 and played for the Golden Bears from 2021 through 2024. A “highlight” video of a 2023 game against Ellet (Akron East) High School shows No. 77 on the right side of the offensive line helping his team to numerous successful plays.

YOUNGSTOWN POLICE

A Youngstown police report states that officers were called to a home on Rhoda Avenue on the West Side at 2:14 p.m. Sunday for a shooting that had just happened. Officers found a man in the dining room with an apparent gunshot wound.

He was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

While police were on Rhoda Avenue, “multiple witnesses” gave the name of the shooter to police, the report states. Detectives and crime scene investigators took over the scene to carry out an investigation.

“Officers were able to locate the suspect at a different location and take him into custody,” the report states. On Monday afternoon, the 14-year-old boy accused in the killing appeared in Mahoning County Juvenile Court for his first hearing, which was before Magistrate Karen Romanno-Melone.

The boy’s charges are murder with a firearm specification, a “mandatory Serious Youthful Offender Specification,” plus a specification of forfeiture of a handgun.

Romanno-Melone said an attorney will be appointed on the boy’s behalf before his next hearing — a pretrial hearing before Mahoning County Juvenile Court Judge Theresa Dellick — within the next 10 days. The boy’s family can hire their own lawyer also, she noted.

The boy was ordered held in detention in the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center.

The criminal complaint in his case accuses the boy of purposely causing the death of the victim and having a weapon at the time of the murder or “used it to facilitate the offense.”

The Serious Youthful Offender specification states that if the boy is adjudicated a delinquent child for committing an act that would be aggravated murder or murder if committed by an adult, the child would be eligible for the Mandatory Serious Youthful Offender specification for being 14 or 15 years old at the time the offense.

The magistrate advised the boy his charges make him eligible to serve prison time as an adult if convicted.

A court official suggested the suspect be assessed for drug and alcohol issues and provided counseling “while he is here” in the juvenile system. When the hearing was over, the boy’s mother was invited to hug him before he was taken back to the juvenile detention facility. She hugged him, saying, “I love you so much. You’ll be OK. Oh, my God, Jesus, help us.”