YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A city man is being arraigned Monday in municipal court on charges he fired several shots Friday at a car that tried to pass him up while he was walking in the street.
Drejuan Cochrane, 22, has been in the Mahoning County Jail since Friday on charges of felonious assault and discharging firearms in the city.
Cochrane was arrested after he was questioned by detectives who were called about 7:45 a.m. Friday after a series of shots were fired in the 500 block of West Ravenwood Avenue.
Reports said a woman told police that she had turned onto West Ravenwood Avenue from Firnley Avenue when she noticed a group of two adults and two children walking in the middle of the street.
The woman told police that she honked her horn at the group to let them know she was coming and drove around them to pass them. That is when someone grabbed her passenger’s side mirror and bent it back, reports said.
The woman kept driving and heard several “pops,” which she thought were either rocks thrown at her car or gunshots, reports said. When she reached a house nearby, she discovered a bullet hole in her car and a gas leak caused by a second bullet that hit her gas tank.
Police also received a gunshot sensor call for the street, and on the way there, the 911 Center received a call from Cochrane, who told call-takers that he had just fired his gun and would be waiting for officers in his drive, reports said.
Reports said when police arrived, they found Cochrane, who told them he had been escorting a family member to the bus stop for school because of recent gunfire when a car “came out of nowhere” and almost hit the group.
Cochrane told police that he pulled his 9mm handgun and began firing shots, reports said. Reports said Cochrane claimed the car stopped, and the driver got out, and he fired more shots because he thought the driver was about to shoot at him.
Cochrane said police could have his gun, which was inside his home, but a woman at the home refused to let police inside to get the gun, despite being told that the gun had to be handled with gloves. She gave officers the gun and two magazines of ammunition, reports said.
Cochrane was taken to the Detective Bureau for questioning and was arrested after he was questioned, reports said.
Police did recover seven 9mm shell casings in the street.
