Suspect arrested in aggravated robbery

YOUNGSTOWN — One of two suspects police said attempted to rob a Struthers man with a shotgun and a knife was arrested before a task force search of an East Side apartment.

First officers on the scene in the 1600 block of Shehy Street around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday took Hector Perez, 30, of Donation Street, into custody. Perez was then arrested on an aggravated-robbery charge.

The victim said Perez fired a shotgun in the air and the second suspect waved a knife around. The victim said he struggled with Perez over the shotgun and it broke off at the stock.

Members of the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force Crisis Response Team were called to out to search for the second suspect inside the house on Shehy, but he wasn’t there. Officers did find a shotgun under a mattress that had been stolen in Beaver Township in August, reports show.

The victim told police he’d gone to the Shehy Street apartment with Perez to party with a six-pack of beer. After several hours, he went outside to sit in his car, and that’s when Perez and another man he knows only as “Will” approached and tried to rob him, he told police.