ELYRIA — A 16-year-old boy was shot in the neck early Friday morning as he drove a car that was being chased by another vehicle.

An officer patrolling near Paul’s Beverage on Lake Avenue spotted the two vehicles as they turned west from Foster Avenue onto Adams Street about 2:13 a.m., according to police. As they sped onto Lake Avenue, a male sitting behind the driver fired multiple shots at the other vehicle with a handgun.

The officer jumped into his patrol car for cover while radioing dispatch of the situation, police said.

More officers arrived to search the area and located one of the vehicles on West Avenue, north of Elm Street. The driver of that vehicle, 16-year-old Mark Grady of Elyria, had a gunshot wound to the back of his neck. Two other occupants were not hurt.

Police are still searching for the other vehicle, described as possibly a newer-model blue Chevy Impala.

Police said Grady was taken to EMH Regional Medical Center, but the hospital had no record of him being a patient there.

LORAIN — A Lorain man was arrested on multiple charges after he apparently fired shots at a car in Lorain yesterday afternoon.

Neely

Police responded to a report of shots fired at about 1:40 p.m. in the area of West 17th Street and Oakdale Avenue and wound up arresting Matthew Neely, 33.

Neely is facing charges of felonious assault with a weapon or ordnance, discharge of a firearm near a roadway, using weapons while intoxicated and receiving stolen property.

Police received a call of shots fired and spoke to Neely.

He told them he received a call and went outside to get money from individuals in a car. He said someone in the car grabbed him, however, dragging him for a distance and then a passenger shot at him. According to a police report, Neely was bleeding from his right forearm and elbow as well as his upper-right chest area.

He later admitted he had fired shots. It wasn’t clear from the report if anyone in the car had also fired shots. Neely went on to retrieve his gun from a bedroom in his home. He also admitted he had been drinking beer all day. According to a report, he asked officers to let him finish his beer before they took him in.

Neely was taken to the Lorain City Jail.

LIVERPOOL TWP. — An Elyria woman was flown to a Cleveland hospital this morning after flipping her sport utility vehicle near Grafton and West River roads.
Karen Durbin-Sasach, 47, lost control of her eastbound 2002 Dodge Durango on Grafton Road. The SUV then slid into a ditch, hit a tree head-on and flipped the vehicle about […]

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — A sheriff in central Ohio says a tarp and trash bags were taken from the home of a 13-year-old girl who was found bound and gagged in the basement of a man’s home about 10 miles away.

The girl had disappeared Wednesday along with her mother, brother and the mother’s friend. Authorities say she was found Sunday in the Mount Vernon home of Matthew J. Hoffman, who is being held on $1 million bond on a kidnapping charge. The other three remain missing.

Knox County Sheriff David Barber said Tuesday that the items found in the girl’s home in Howard are significant to the investigation. He also says a Wal-Mart receipt listing tarps and trash bags has been found, but would not say where or when.

Barber says Hoffman is on suicide watch after giving certain “indications” to staff.