Police try to stop series of holdups

Officers now assigned to special units will be out patrolling in marked cruisers.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The push is on to catch a group of young gunslingers police think are responsible for an outbreak of holdups on the South Side.
They're in their late teens or early 20s. They usually cover their faces, mostly with Halloween or ski masks.
As fabled bank robber Willie Sutton said, they're going where the money is.
Afterward, they slink back into the neighborhoods they know well. They may temporarily hide out in vacant houses to avoid capture.
Lt. Robin Lees said Tuesday that armed robberies are up but he won't know by how much until quarterly statistics are compiled. The target areas have been South Avenue and Market Street.
"We suspect a small group is responsible for the majority of the holdups," Lees said. "There's been an upsurge in business robberies -- the places with the money."
Who's being targeted
Records for the past two months show robberies occurred at a variety of businesses or in their parking lots. Included in the victim list are convenience and discount stores, pizza shops, gas stations, bars and fast-food restaurants.
The Southside License Bureau on Market Street was robbed twice last month, likely by the same three masked suspects both times. The owner opened fire the second time with a .357-caliber Magnum. The robbers returned fire, though no one was injured.
Lees said suspects were rounded up and brought back to the license bureau for identification but, because the robbers had concealed their faces, no positive identification could be made.
Every effort is being made to catch those responsible for the armed robberies, Lees said. Police working Weed and Seed details on the South Side who encounter suspicious circumstances are stopping people for questioning, he said.
Lees asked that anyone with information about the holdups call Detective Sgt. Jerry Shuster at (330) 742-8263.
Police Chief Robert E. Bush Jr. said Tuesday that some officers now assigned to special units, such as the Street Crimes Unit, will begin this week canvassing the business corridors -- mostly on the South Side -- in marked cruisers. The officers generally work in unmarked cars.
"Marked cruisers are a [crime] deterrent," Bush said. "We'll have them out during traditional business hours and at closing times."
The chief said he has a shortage of marked cruisers -- a few were wrecked -- and may have to use marked cruisers assigned to the schools.
Bush said the young suspects -- who may be members of the South Side Soldiers gang -- are emboldened by carrying guns. The gang, many of whom are juveniles, made news in June when several members were indicted on a variety of charges related to auto theft.
Advice to business owners
The chief said it's important for businesses and their parking lots to be well lighted. He suggested that a minimum of cash be kept on hand and bank deposits made at staggered times.
It's also a good idea for business owners to jot down the license number of suspicious vehicles in their lots, Bush said.
"We always see a surge, a spike, in robberies at this time of the year," the chief said. "More people are out shopping."
Holdups, meanwhile, haven't been confined to the South Side.
On the West Side, for example, masked gunmen robbed First American Cash Advance on Mahoning Avenue twice last month and a lone robber hit the Medicine Shoppe, also on Mahoning. The Valley Service Center on Mahoning and Subway on Canfield Road were held up at the end of October, as was Cherol's Market on Salt Springs Road, records show.
On the North Side, the Family Dollar Store on Belmont was robbed a few days after Thanksgiving by a man wearing a yellow and black ski mask. It was robbed again Monday by a man wearing a dark blue ski mask, police said.
In mid-November, city police were sent to assist Liberty officers with a robbery-in-progress call at Rite Aid on Belmont Avenue. Struthers police advised surrounding communities to be on the lookout for an armed suspect after a holdup Nov. 15 at California Sun Tanning on East Midlothian Boulevard.
meade@vindy.com