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Police probe holiday weekend crimes
YOUNGSTOWN
Most people celebrated the country’s 235th birthday with family and friends, but Youngstown police are investigating several instances of assault, robbery and attempted arson over the long holiday weekend.
Police are looking for the person responsible for firing several bullets into a car Friday, narrowly missing a 4-year-old child sitting in the back seat and hitting a teen sitting in the front seat.
According to reports, a 17-year-old Ridgewood Avenue teen was driving the car just before 11 p.m. when she heard the gunfire. A 17-year-old West Chalmers Avenue girl sitting in the front seat was struck by one shot.
Police inspected the car and noted that there were two entrance holes going through the trunk and backseat close to where the child had been seated. The injured teen was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment.
Police are also looking for three armed, masked men who walked into a Canfield Road home Monday and robbed the occupants of cash and jewelry. There were children in the house at the time ranging in age from 6 to 9.
According to police reports, the 32-year-old resident was watching television at 12:30 a.m. when the three men walked through an unlocked door brandishing guns.
The men locked the children in a closet, while the man was duct-taped and made to lie on the floor.
Two other residents in another room were also made to lie on the floor. One was hit with a gun for not moving fast enough, police said.
Reports say the men ransacked the house, taking about $3,500, jewelry and a 1999 maroon Chevrolet Blazer.
The resident did free himself and managed to call police after the men had left the home.
Police are looking for a 52-year-old city man accused of beating his girlfriend in the head with a hammer during an argument Friday.
According to police reports, the 50-year-old woman was found in the 1100 block of Verona Avenue on the East Side “bleeding profusely from a wound to the head” shortly after 3 a.m.
She told police she and her boyfriend had been arguing about a female friend when he became angry and hit her in the head with the hammer twice.
Police found blood throughout the couple’s home and a bloodied hammer in the house, but the boyfriend had left the house before officers arrived.
A 68-year-old Wayne Avenue man wants police to determine who tried to set his house on fire Friday while he was inside.
The man told police he was watching television just before 5 p.m. when he heard a loud noise on the porch.
He said he went to inspect the area and noticed a strong smell of gasoline.
He also noticed two black men running through rear yards near his house.
Police collected a gas can left on the front porch as evidence.
Police are investigating a reported rape that took place inside Oakhill Cemetery on the South Side late Saturday evening.
A 30-year-old woman told police she visited a friend on West Princeton and needed a ride back to a Market Street motel about 10:30 p.m.
She said she accepted a ride from a heavy-set man driving a pickup truck, but he did not take her to the motel.
He instead took her to the cemetery, where she was sexually assaulted.
Police found the woman near the downtown area crying and hysterical.
The man has not been apprehended.