Robbers take speakers

Robbers take speakers
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two Pittsburgh men working for a Pittsburgh audio company told city police they were robbed at gunpoint of two sets of speakers. The men said they met a customer at Union Square Plaza on the city's North Side around 5 p.m. Wednesday and followed him to a Florencedale Avenue address, where one of the salesmen opened the side doors to the van they drove to show the customer speakers. The customer, about 20, pulled a gun and placed it against the salesman's side, they told police. The salesmen said they escaped when the first salesman entered the van to unload speakers and the other salesman, who was driving, pulled away, hitting the gunman with an open door.
Robbery on West Side
YOUNGSTOWN -- An employee at a West Side pharmacy told city police she was robbed of cash from a cash drawer by a man who handed her a note. The woman said she was working as a cashier at the CVS on Mahoning Avenue around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday when the man, 55 or older, handed her the note reading, "This is a robbery, give me all your money." He left with an undisclosed amount of money and his note.
South Side gunfire
YOUNGSTOWN -- City police were called to the 300 block of East Myrtle Avenue on the city's South Side after a resident heard gunfire. A security guard told police around 11 p.m. Wednesday that a resident had seen two people shooting a gun at Myrtle and Belleview Avenue and may have been shooting toward a house. The homeowner said she had heard gunfire but that there were no bullet holes in her home.
Domestic violence
YOUNGSTOWN -- City police arrested a 22-year-old South Side man early today on a charge of domestic violence after his live-in girlfriend told officers he had taken her to South Side Park and dragged her by the hair along railroad tracks. The woman, 18, said they had argued at their Hillman Street apartment around midnight when the boyfriend punched the back of her head and forced her into an auto driven by a friend. The friend dropped them off at the park. She said she was dragged to the East Dewey Avenue bridge, where a group of boys approached and the boyfriend fled. Police were flagged down by the woman, wearing nightclothes and barefoot, on East Dewey near Market Street. Police arrested the boyfriend around 1:50 a.m. on East Ravenwood while responding to an unrelated assault call.
Man pleads guilty
YOUNGSTOWN -- Edwin S. Scott, 42, of Elm Street, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to two counts of attempted murder. The county prosecutor's office is recommending a 10-year prison sentence on each count. Judge Robert Lisotto delayed sentencing until after a background check and ordered Scott held in the county jail in the meantime. Assistant Prosecutor Robert Andrews said Scott broke into the Ohio Avenue home of his former girlfriend, Mary Spann, and stabbed her once in the chest in her bedroom in May 1999. He then went to the living room and stabbed Spann's friend, Robert Duke, about 20 times while Duke was on a couch. When Spann tried to stop Scott from stabbing Duke, she was stabbed a second time in the chest, Andrews said. Spann was 28 at the time and Duke was 33. Both were hospitalized for their wounds but survived. Andrews said authorities aren't sure what caused Scott to attack them.
Equipment theft
AUSTINTOWN -- Police are investigating the theft of at least $8,500 worth of equipment during the past few days from a maintenance shed at Arby's on Mahoning Avenue. The stolen equipment includes a welder, a power washer, an ice machine and two slicers. Employees were unsure of the total value of the equipment. They said it was taken between Monday and Wednesday.
Theft, assault on cop
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 29-year-old Youngstown woman will face charges of misdemeanor theft and felonious assault on a police officer in Boardman area court tonight, after an altercation Tuesday night at a township grocery store. Police said Josette Carter of Volney Road was seen stealing $151 worth of steaks from Giant Eagle. When officers tried to stop her, reports said, she jumped into a truck driven by a man and tried to escape. The fleeing vehicle knocked officer Glen Patton to the ground, causing minor injuries. He was treated at Beeghly Medical Center.