Bowling Green man charged in shooting of pair near store

9/16/2004

BOWLING GREEN - A Bowling Green man was arrested early yesterday for allegedly shooting two men after a quarrel in a downtown parking lot.

Brian Steen, 22, was charged with two counts of felonious assault, inducing panic, and improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation or school safety zone, all felonies. He is being held in the Wood County jail on $50,000 bond.

Police alleged Mr. Steen quarreled at the Junction Bar and Grill on North Main Street before going home to retrieve a gun.

When he returned downtown just before 2 a.m., he reportedly saw the men he had been quarreling with in the parking lot of a convenience store at East Wooster and North Prospect streets.

Lt. Brad Biller said the suspect confronted three men, resumed the quarrel, pulled out a gun, and began firing.

Matthew Llanas, 20, of Bowling Green was shot twice in the right leg and once in the left leg, while a bullet passed through the shirt of Josaph McGlaughlin, 22, of Wayne, Ohio, but missed his body. Mr. Llanas was in fair condition yesterday at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, Toledo.

Police said several bullets also struck the BW-3 restaurant across East Wooster Street.

"We had officers in the area who heard the shots," Lieutenant Biller said.

When they got to the area, bystanders identified Mr. Steen's car, which was just leaving the store parking lot, he said.

Officers stopped the car at Ridge and Prospect streets and found a gun inside, Lieutenant Biller said.

During a video arraignment in Bowling Green Municipal Court, Judge Mark Reddin appointed attorney Scott Coon to represent Mr. Steen and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Sept. 22.

According to court records, Mr. Llanas faces a robbery charge in Wood County Common Pleas Court stemming from an incident April 7 in which he and another man allegedly assaulted a delivery man and attempted to take his money. He is to enter a plea in that case Oct. 25 before Judge Alan Mayberry.