19-year-old man charged with aggravated murder in South Side

YOUNGSTOWN — Darnell L. Jones, 19, with addresses in Austintown and Warren, has been charged with aggravated murder, murder, attempted murder, felonious assault and other counts in the Sept. 11, 2023, killing of Ty’Lend J. Lewis, 21, on Summer Street on Youngstown’s South Side.

Lewis was found shot to death around 7:10 p.m. that day after police were called to a shooting by a family member who found the victim. He was dead before police and paramedics arrived, according to a Youngstown police news release.

The murder occurred one block east of Glenwood Avenue. Capt. Jason Simon of the Youngstown Police Department’s detective division said last year that investigative work, forensic evidence and public cooperation were key to solving the case.

Simon asked for the public’s help when Lewis died. It was the fifth homicide in 14 days in a year when the total number of homicides was down from the previous year.

“We are determined to declare that the violence must stop,” Simon said in a press release on September 11, 2023. “And we know our community supports us in this message.”

“The public is a tremendous partner and the YPD appreciates the information provided to us when these tragic and senseless incidents occur, which further strengthens the collaboration between our offices and those we serve.”

Jones was charged with murder on Oct. 30 in Youngstown Municipal Court, but was never arraigned. He was in the Trumbull County Jail at the time, but was booked into the Mahoning County Jail on April 8, according to Mahoning County Jail records.

At the time Jones was charged with Lewis’ murder, he had been in the Trumbull County Jail since September 29. He was arrested on a warrant issued by a Trumbull County Magistrate Court judge after Jones failed to appear for sentencing several days earlier.

His charges in Trumbull County involved leading Niles police on a foot chase after they confronted him about a possible stolen car on April 1, 2023.

According to a police report, Niles police were alerted by their Flock license plate cameras of a stolen vehicle entering the city on Robbins Avenue around 6:30 p.m. on April 1, 2023. Officers located the vehicle in a driveway on South Carnegie Avenue in Niles and saw a man driving away.

When officers stopped to talk to Jones, he turned and ran, according to a police report. The officers ran into a wet area with thorn bushes, causing injuries to the officers’ faces, the report said.

Police arrested Jones in the woods. An AK-47 rifle was found inside the vehicle.

Jones was charged with multiple misdemeanors, but was later indicted on a charge of receiving stolen property and pleaded guilty on June 29, 2023, to theft. He failed to appear for his sentencing hearing on September 25, 2023, but was sentenced on October 11 to probation in the Trumbull County case.

Jones’ Warren address was Fifth Street SW. His Austintown address was South Edgehill Avenue, according to Mahoning County court records.