Police: No clear motive behind drive-by shooting in North Canton
NORTH CANTON – Police said they do not know why a man fired gunshots into a woman's car on a downtown street Wednesday afternoon.
"They didn't know each other," Police Chief Frank Kemp Jr. said Thursday of the accused shooter and the woman whose car was struck.
"There's no alcohol, drug or gang relation that we found during the investigation. We also don't have any explanation of any earlier event that occurred between the two subjects. They were two individuals that don't live in this city that were driving through town."
Suspect facing charges in North Canton drive-by shooting
The suspect in the drive-by shooting turned himself in Wednesday evening after the incident led to North Canton City Schools having a roughly 20-minute lockdown several hours before, police said.
The 25-year-old man appeared at the North Canton Police Department at City Hall around 6:20 p.m., according to a statement issued by city police.
Police charged him with two counts of improperly discharging a firearm in a school safety zone, one count of felonious assault, one count of inducing panic and one count of the discharge of a firearm on or near prohibited premises. He was booked into the Stark County jail, where he remained Thursday.
The defendant, who lists a Canton home address in court records, is scheduled to appear Friday morning in Canton Municipal Court. A judge will decide whether to send the case to Stark County Common Pleas Court for grand jury consideration. All the charges are felonies, which are handled in common pleas court.
The police complaint against the defendant alleges he fired multiple rounds into the victim's vehicle in the 200 block of North Main, close to North Canton Primary School and the North Canton YMCA Early Childhood Development Center. The shots are alleged to have been fired across the road.
North Canton shooting prompted school lockdown
An officer was in the area of the gunshots and discovered a Pontiac Grand Am at a gas station with damage to the vehicle, according to police. The driver door was open. The driver was inside the business uninjured.
All of the district's schools were placed on the soft lockdown around 1:25 p.m., meaning no one was allowed to enter or exit the school, North Canton City Schools Superintendent Jeff Wendorf said. The district received the all-clear signal at 1:45 p.m.
The criminal complaint against the suspect says his actions "caused a substantial risk of serious physical harm to the victim and her property."
"This caused the schools to lockdown, and parents to believe their children were in danger. The North Canton Police Department dispatch center and North Canton City Schools received numerous calls from concerned parents and citizens."
A statement from police said North Canton police detectives determined an identity of a person suspected of firing a gun. They along with Stark County sheriff's deputies unsuccessfully tried to find the suspect at his home, his place of employment and other locations that he was associated with. But then he turned up at the city police station.
North Canton police are seeking the public's assistance. Anyone with information about the case can call 330-499-5911. Anonymous tips can call the department's tip line at 330-966-3633 or download the free Tip411 app and submit the tip through the app.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Suspect, 25, charged in North Canton drive-by shooting
