Owner thwarts robbery attempt at station

STAFF REPORT

AUSTINTOWN — Police said two teenage boys tried to rob a Shell gas station on Mahoning Avenue.

Around 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, two black males wearing jeans and dark-colored, hooded shirts entered the Wickliffe Shell Station with the hoods of their shirts pulled up over their faces.

The store owner told police he asked both suspects to remove their hoods. He said he was walking from the back office to the cash register when the suspects entered the store.

One of the suspects followed the store owner to the register and pointed a gun at him, according to police reports. The owner said he then closed the door of the cage around the register, and the suspects ran out of the store without taking any money.

He told police he followed the teens outside and saw them get into a car in the parking lot of Chipper’s Sports Bar and Grill, located near the gas station on North Edgehill Avenue.

The store owner said the car, possibly a maroon or burgundy Dodge, fled north from the bar on North Edgehill.

Police said they looked at a surveillance video from the store and noted that both suspects could be seen walking by the door of the store several minutes before the attempted robbery.