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Police seek leads in robberies, shootings
YOUNGSTOWN
Police are seeking leads to find those involved in two armed robberies and two shootings over the weekend.
A 54-year-old South Side man was robbed while visiting a home on Brooklyn Avenue about 4 p.m. Sunday. According to police, the suspect was described as a man in his mid-20s wearing a ski mask and leather jacket.
The victim told police he went to the 100 block of Brooklyn to pick up a female friend and was sitting in the driveway of a home when the robbery took place.
The man told police the thief approached his car after his friend had gotten into the car and pointed a gun at him demanding his money and wallet.
The victim said he handed over his wallet but distracted the thief long enough to grab his gun. The two men reportedly began struggling over the weapon, and the victim was able to pull the trigger, but the gun contained no bullets.
The victim told police the thief bit him on the ear and arm causing him to drop the gun. The thief grabbed the weapon and ran off. The victim refused medical treatment, police said.
Shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday, police were sent to the 200 block of South Garland Avenue on the East Side for another armed robbery. A 26-year-old Garland man told police he used a remote starter to start a truck in his driveway and was robbed when he went out to get into the vehicle.
The victim told police the suspect was more than 6 feet tall, weighing about 220 pounds and wearing a dark-green coat.
The victim said the man put a gun to the back of his head and ordered him to get on the ground. While the victim was on the ground, the thief searched his pockets, taking $375 and a driver’s license. The thief drove away in the victim’s 2004 Chevrolet Envoy.
Police found the victim’s car later Sunday evening near Wardle Avenue. It had been set aflame.
A 33-year-old East Side woman told police she was grazed by a bullet early Friday morning when her Bennington Avenue home was hit by gunfire.
The woman said she was lying on a couch watching TV when she heard gunfire shortly after 2 a.m. and realized she had been hit in the knee by one of the bullets.
The woman refused medical treatment. Her 17-year-old son was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom and heard the gunfire but did not see who was shooting.
Police found six bullet-holes on the outside of the home and five holes where bullets had lodged into walls inside the home.
About the same time the Bennington shooting was reported, police were sent a short distance away to the 3000 block of McGuffey Road for another shooting at a home.
The 54-year-old home-owner told police he was awakened by gunfire and found his fish tank with a hole in it and fish on the floor. Police found three bullet holes on the outside of the McGuffey home.