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Warren woman describes threats and violence in her neighborhood
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Tiffanne Goncz says it was upsetting when a young man walking through her Hunter Street Northwest neighborhood gave a hard time to a family friend.
But when the guy threatened to burn down her house Friday night, the 28-year-old mother of four said that took things to another level.
She stood near her driveway and confronted the man — “nose to nose,” according to a Warren police report.
The man in his early 20s, who was with about five other young males and a female, hit her — first with an open hand to the face, then to her upper arm, she said.
“They were threatening to burn up my house. I have four kids,” Goncz said, explaining why she decided to confront the man, adding, “He got irate on me and got completely ignorant.”
The man was about 5-foot-3 but had a stocky build.
Just after the man and his friends left, Goncz’s husband gave a ride to a 31-year-old Warren man who had been a witness to the Hunter Street incident.
They traveled south on Parkman Road to Front Street Southwest.
Some of the people from the Hunter Street incident had gathered there, along with more than 20 others, Goncz said.
The 31-year-old told police he was hit in the back of the head just after he got out of the vehicle. He went to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital with a large bump and laceration to his head, police said.
Goncz says her husband told her the assault was committed with a pipe and that the group also broke out the window of their vehicle, held a gun to his head and told him to leave.
At 9:15 p.m. Monday, Goncz’s 21-year-old brother-in-law was walking north on Parkman Road near his home on Hunter Street when he was hit in the face with a projectile.
He went to Trumbull Memorial and then was transferred by ambulance to University Hospitals in Cleveland.
The man says he believes the projectile was a BB or pellet from an Air Soft gun. Doctors say the eye, which was red Tuesday, suffered severe bruising and swelling and damage to blood vessels.
“They’re hoping he can get his eyesight fully back,” Goncz said.
Goncz and her brother- in-law say they don’t know whether the assault on her brother-in-law was related to Friday’s incident, but it seems likely.
“The window got knocked out of the Expedition. Then two nights later, he gets hit in the face,” Goncz said, adding that detectives came to the house Monday and Tuesday morning.
Goncz doesn’t believe police will stop the problems associated with the youths, who pass through the neighborhood, frequently using a nearby alley.
“What’s going to be next? My kids? Is one of them going to get caught in the crossfire?” she asked.