Police probe 2 armed robberies on South Side

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

YOUNGSTOWN — Police are investigating two armed robberies on the city’s South Side that took place at almost the same time.

A 25-year-old woman told police she pulled into the unattached garage to her Hollywood Avenue home at 9:40 p.m. Tuesday after leaving classes at Youngstown State University, got out of her car and was met by two men wearing bandannas over their faces.

One of the men pushed her to the ground, and she could feel what later would be determined to be a shotgun being placed to the side of her head.

Police said a 25-year-old male resident inside the house heard the woman’s screams, opened the door and saw the shotgun being pointed at him. He slammed the door and hit a house-alarm button.

The thieves snatched the woman’s bookbag containing school books and ran off.

About 10 minutes later, a store clerk at Petra Food Mart on South Avenue was confronted by three armed men demanding cash, two with black ski masks and the third with a white ski mask. A second employee also was held at gunpoint.

The clerk handed over an undisclosed amount of cash, which the thieves put into a pillow case along with cigars and cigarettes they grabbed before bidding the clerks a “nice night” and driving off in a cream-colored car.