STEUBENVILLE - Two people were taken to the county jail Wednesday in connection with separate shooting incidents in the city.
Westley Bowling, 25, of 241 S. Fifth St. was arrested by City Police and charged with having a weapon as a convicted felon.
Police believe Bowling was the man who got out of a SUV Monday evening in the 400 block of South Fifth Street and began firing shots at a group of people outside an apartment. Police said people outside the apartment returned fire. Two apartments were hit by stray bullets but nobody was hit with the gunfire, police reported.
Bowling was sentenced in July 2005 to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to carrying a concealed weapon, having a gun as a convicted felon and tampering with evidence.
City Police Chief William McCafferty said detectives are still working on the case and he is hopeful additional people will be charged.
A member of the Jefferson County Drug Task Force was working with a Ohio adult parole officer in an unmarked vehicle checking on parolees when Bowling was seen in a car at Sunset and Belleview boulevards. A uniformed City Police officer pulled over the car around 7:30 p.m. and Bowling was taken into custody.
Bowling was lodged in the county jail today on a $150,000 bond.
Also, a Pittsburgh man was brought back to the city Wednesday in connection with shots being fired on Dec. 27 in the 500 block of Maxwell Avenue.
Darson E. Williams Jr., 37, was indicted in February on two counts of improperly discharging a firearm into a house and single counts of felonious assault, with a firearm specification, and having a weapon as a convicted felon.
Police reported Williams fired shots at an occupied vehicle on Dec. 27 in the 500 block of Maxwell Avenue. Police reported gunshots hit two houses. The intended victim wasn't injured, police reported.
The Jefferson County Prosecutor's Office contacted the Allegheny County Sheriff's Department inquiring about his whereabouts. The Allegheny County Sheriff's Department also found drug-related warrants out of Allegheny County, including a domestic relations warrant.
The Allegheny County Sheriff's Department then began searching for Williams.
Deputies received information on Feb. 9 that Williams was staying in the Hill District area. After a few hours of surveillance, deputies had gathered information placing Williams in a house on Bryn Mawr Avenue. Upon announcing themselves, deputies were able to make contact with Williams' mother, who stated that he was in the home somewhere, but she was unsure where, the sheriff's department reported. After a brief search, deputies found Williams hiding under clothes on the second floor, the sheriff's department reported. He was quickly taken into custody and transported to the Allegheny County Jail.
