Man reports pistol-whipping, theft

YOUNGSTOWN -- A 30-year-old Potomac Avenue man told police masked intruders came into his home last week, pistol-whipping him before stealing $3,500.
The man said he was sitting in a neighboring driveway at 2:30 a.m. Saturday when four people approached him, two holding guns to his head, and demanded money.
They then led him to a door of his home where they pistol-whipped him, before the man's 12th-grade son opened a door. Three of the assailants, wearing bandannas over their faces, entered the home, where the man's ninth-grade daughter sat on a couch, according to police reports. He said he was again pistol-whipped as he held the girl.
Stole money: Two of the intruders, using a revolver, led the man to an upstairs bedroom, where his wife hid in a closet, and again demanded money, the man told police. The intruders forced her to lie on the floor and covered her with a blanket before overturning a mattress and stealing $3,500 hidden in an envelope there. The money was inherited after his mother's death, the man said.
The third intruder remained downstairs, tied the children's hands with an extension cord and stole two gold rings from the girl's hand.
The man said he did not call police until Wednesday because he believed police would "take too long," the police report states, and he felt that the amount stolen was not much money. He said he decided to call after seeing one of his assailants drive by his home.
Officers reported that they did not see injuries.