Lorain man charged with shooting woman in stomach

Lorain police have charged a man with shooting his girlfriend's 18-year-old daughter in the stomach outside a house on East 38th Street last month. Gilbert Soto, 49, was arrested on a charge of felonious assault on Tuesday, according to jail records. He was arraigned in Lorain Municipal Court, posted bond and was released from the Lorain County Jail on Thursday. Lorain police allege Soto was the culprit in a non-fatal shooting on East 38th Street in Lorain on Feb. 26. Details of the shooting were contained in a search warrant affidavit unsealed in Lorain County Common Pleas Court this week. Lorain police got permission from Judge Chris Cook to take Soto's DNA so it could be compared to any DNA found on the handgun and a spent shell casing. According to the affidavit, a Lorain police detective went to the Lorain County Jail and took two swabs from the inside of Soto's mouth, which will be sent for testing. According to the affidavit filed, reviewed and signed by Cook, officers responded to the 2500 block of East 38th Street in Lorain just after 2 a.m. Feb. 26 for a report that a man had shot a woman. The first officers to arrive found an 18-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to her abdomen outside her house on East 38th Street. The victim's sister and the victim's friend told police they were outside when the victim knocked on the front window of the house. Soto, who was dating the victim's mother, opened the front door and shot the victim once in the abdomen with a small, dark-colored handgun, the younger women told police. The witnesses said Soto then ran away, taking the gun with him. The victim's mother told police she and Soto heard what they thought was a rock thrown against the house while they were inside. She said Soto got up, opened the front door and fired a single shot. Police found a .380-caliber shell casing on the front porch. They learned Soto may have gone to an ex-girlfriend's apartment in the 2200 block of East 28th Street, according to the affidavit. Officers got a warrant for Soto's arrest based on the witness statements and evidence. Later that day, around 1 p.m., Lorain police officers were called to the 2800 block of Gary Avenue where they recovered a black Ruger .380 handgun from a tree lawn. The gun was found a block from Soto's ex-girlfriend's apartment and was seized as evidence, according to the affidavit. Soto turned himself in at the Lorain Police Department on Tuesday. He refused to speak with police, was booked and taken to Lorain County Jail. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.