Canfield police search for suspects in home invasion and assaults

By ASHLEY LUTHERN

A 64-year-old man had head injuries and was taken to St. Elizabeth’s.

CANFIELD — Police are searching for two men who entered a Canfield residence and assaulted the homeowner and his son about 4:35 a.m. Sunday.

The presumed motive was burglary, according to police reports.

When a Mahoning County sheriff’s officer responded to a 911 burglary call at Bay Hill Drive, he saw the homeowner’s 17-year-old son standing in the driveway holding his side, which was bleeding.

The teen told the officer that he was in the backyard talking to his mother when he heard his 64-year-old father yelling and saw him being pushed into a glass trophy case by a man wearing dark clothing, gloves and a ski mask.

When the son went inside to help his father, another man wearing a ski mask attacked and stabbed him, according to police reports.

The assailants fled, one out the front door and one out the back, pushing the boy’s mother on his way out.

Canfield city police arrived on the scene with a police dog to track the two men. The dog led police north along Bay Hill Drive, crossing the intersection with Shields Road. When the scent was lost at the parking lot of Ursuline Motherhouse on Shields Road, it was determined that the suspects possibly left in a vehicle that was parked there, according to police.

Cardinal Joint Fire District medics treated the teen’s “superficial” cut, but his father had several cuts on his head and didn’t remember being assaulted or what happened. He was taken by ambulance to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment.

The wife of the victim said that nothing was missing from the residence.

Her son, the other victim, had several friends staying at the guest house located about 30 feet away from the back of the house. None said that they heard or saw anything when questioned by police.

The wife added that she and her husband were originally awakened by their dogs barking and it was when she let them out that she saw her son walking up to the back patio from the guest house. The two were talking when they heard her husband’s yelling.

A family friend who was sleeping inside the house reported that he awoke to hear the teen screaming but didn’t see anything, according to police.

The teen told police that the garage personal door located on the south side of the residence was left open and the men could have entered the house that way.

Police also recovered a pocketknife on the front porch steps.