BOARDMAN - A man who broke into a home Tuesday afternoon in Boardman was shot dead by the homeowner, police said.
Boardman police swarmed 5011 Lockwood Blvd. just after 3 p.m. Tuesday. Officers caught a man running through the back yard and went into the home to find the homeowner friends identified him as Kevin Neal and another man who had been shot to death.
"The homeowner was home. The entry was gained through a sliding glass door by smashing it out with some object, and he came into the house and confronted him in the kitchen," Boardman police Capt. Donald Hawkins told Tribune Chronicle news partner WYTV 33 News.
The call came in as a possible home invasion, but police said Neal, the victim and the alleged getaway driver all knew each other. The nature of that relationship is unclear, police said Tuesday evening. Police did not release the identification of the shooting victim and the driver.
Across the street, the Slipkovich family told 33 News that their son, Billy Slipkovich, was getting off the bus from Boardman High School at the same time as the shooting was happening. The bus blocked the getaway driver from getting away in a green Dodge.
"I turned around, and they're like, 'Hey, stop!' And I'm like, what are they yelling at?" Slipkovich said. "And I see the guy get out of the car, and he's just running up like the fence over there, and he just hops the fence. And the police are like, 'I'm gonna Tase you!' and I'm like, 'Wow, I'm in the middle of a police chase. This is crazy.'"
Slipkovich's mother, Lisa Slipkovich, said she saw the same green car slowly driving up and down the street all day.
Police searched the home and found several weapons inside.
Neal and his attorney said Neal fired the shot in self-defense after the intruder broke into his home.
It's unclear what, if any, charges will be filed against Neal or the driver.
"It's way, way too early for something like that," Hawkins said. "We have to sort this whole thing out and see what spawned this event."