YOUNGSTOWN - Detectives are trying to sort out what led to two people being shot at an East Side apartment complex early Tuesday evening.
John Buchanan, 24, 1355 Republic St., suffered several gunshot wounds, and Devontae Johnson, 24, of 943 Plaza View Court, was shot in the chest.
Police Chief Rod Foley said both were being treated at St. Elizabeth Health Center, and both are expected to recover.
Officers were called to the Plaza View Court complex about 7:25 p.m. and found Buchanan in a nearby yard bleeding from several wounds. A shotgun was lying next to him. There were also several spent shell casings and a large amount of blood.
Johnson was in a nearby apartment being treated by paramedics. He said he was shot when he was going to the store to buy cigarettes. He told officers he does not know who shot him.
Witnesses told police Johnson left for the store and returned right afterward with a gunshot wound.
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Two men wounded at East Side apartment complex early Tuesday evening.
Police found a shotgun next to one of the victims and a nearby apartment was hit with rounds from an assault rifle.
Police are trying to find out if a third person was wounded as well.
Another resident in another apartment said Buchanan knocked on her door holding a shotgun and walked in, complaining ''somebody took my stuff.'' She ran upstairs as gunfire broke out.
Police found several holes in her kitchen wall made by rounds from an assault rifle and several spent bullets and shell casings inside the kitchen.
Foley said detectives have been frustrated because several witnesses are not cooperating.
''They're (detectives) trying to figure out what this beef is about,'' Foley said. ''It seems like it was a planned action based on how people showed up in several different locations.''
There are some people who are not listed on police reports who may have been involved who are well known to the police department, Foley said.
Investigators at the crime scene were told one more person may have been wounded, but police have not yet found that person, Foley said. He said no one investigators know of has been treated for a gunshot wound at local hospitals.