Home invaders interrupt wake

By Peter H. Milliken

Thieves also robbed a 74-year-old man, who had just cashed his Social Security check.

YOUNGSTOWN — Police are investigating a home invasion, in which four masked gunmen interrupted a wake and terrorized 10 adults and seven children in attendance on the city’s South Side.

One of the mourners told police he was standing in a driveway in the 600 block of West Judson Avenue, when the four men removed keys from his pocket and forced him into the house at gunpoint at 10:40 p.m. Monday.

The masked men rushed into the house and ordered all occupants, including visitors from Columbus, Ohio, and Clearwater, Fla., to the basement at gunpoint.

The handgun-toting intruders yelled out the name of someone they were seeking, but that person was not present, the victims told police.

One of the victims gave the intruders $150, but the intruders threw that money to the floor, saying it didn’t interest them.

Another victim told the intruders a wake was in progress and there were women, children and elderly people in the home. He told the invaders to take anything they wanted, but asked them not to hurt anyone.

After realizing the person they sought wasn’t present, the invaders left.

But while the intruders were in the house, a 27-year-old woman living there jumped through a window to escape, and police later found her in a nearby rear yard.

Police tried to find and follow the invaders’ tracks in the snow, but they were indistinguishable from those of family members looking for the woman who jumped out the window.

In a separate home invasion at 7:15 p.m. Monday, two robbers entered a residence in the 300 block of East Boston Avenue on the city’s South Side through the unlocked front door while the 74-year-old homeowner was sitting at his dining room table, the homeowner told police.

One of the robbers was a masked male in his late teens, who kept his right hand in his sweatshirt pocket as if he had a weapon, and demanded money.

That robber pulled $375 from the pocket of the victim, who told police he had just cashed his Social Security check.

When the victim stood up, he heard another young male intruder he couldn’t see telling him to sit back down before both robbers left through the front door, the victim told police.

Police said they checked the area but couldn’t find any suspects.

milliken@vindy.com