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7/30/2008 3:34 AM

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By Scott Beveridge

Staff writer

sbeveridge@observer-reporter.com

A probation officer escorted Donora police last week to John Duchi's residence to question him about a gang-related shooting.

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Police then stumbled on a cache of drugs, assault weapons, a sawed-off shotgun and bulletproof vests while Duchi was nowhere to be found at the residence in the 400 block of Third Street in Donora.

As a result, he is wanted on a warrant for failure to report to his probation officer following a 2007 conviction in Washington County for aggravated assault and violating his parole for having the drugs and weapons, court records show.

The July 21 search came about after Duchi's name surfaced as a suspect in a July 16 shooting in Monessen. Cordaro L. Jackson was grazed in the shoulder by a bullet about 2 a.m., likely in retaliation for his participation in a brutal beating of Duchi's friend, Monessen police Chief Mark Gibson said Tuesday.

Jackson, 19, of 511 Summit Ave., isn't cooperating with Westmoreland County detectives about the shooting that took place about a block from his residence, police said.

Gibson said these men seem to prefer taking matters into their own hands over asking police for help.

"I don't see their mentality. It just intensifies the situation."

Gibson said Donora police joined him last year in speaking with students at the Monessen and Ringgold high schools about gang violence, suspicious that there were related problems in the neighboring towns.

"We thought we nipped it in the bud," Gibson said.

They were proven wrong when Jackson and two of his friends dragged a Donora man out of a vehicle parked July 1 outside Monessen Civic Center. Once out of the vehicle, Skylar Carter, 18, was punched and kicked in the head and body, and whipped with a dog chain, court records show.

Jackson and Johnathan Minnie, 19, and Allan Lomax, 18, both of Monessen, are free on $5,000 bonds awaiting trial in Westmoreland County Court on charges of simple assault and criminal conspiracy.

"I don't understand these youth today," Gibson said.

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