Police probe two armed robberies

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Police are investigating two armed robberies, one of which took place in the downtown area.

A 31-year-old South Side woman told police she was robbed at knife point in a downtown parking lot while leaving work Monday afternoon. The woman said she was walking to her car about 5:35 p.m. on Commerce Street in a parking lot behind the old child- support building when a man with braided hair, a fleece jacket and a black ball cap approached her holding a knife.

According to the police report, the man demanded the woman’s wallet and threatened to cut her throat if she did not hand the item over. The woman, a VXI Global employee, handed the man a wallet containing $150, credit cards and a birth certificate.

The thief took the wallet and ran down Commerce street toward the bus station.

Police also are investigating a Tuesday morning robbery at a gas station along Market Street.

According to a police report, a 28-year-old East Side man stopped at a gas station in the 3200 block of Market Street just before 2 a.m. and was robbed at gunpoint by a man who had been sitting at a nearby gas pump in a 1990s model Chrysler Concorde.

The man reportedly told police he was pumping gas when the thief, a short man with short braids and wearing a hoodie, walked up, pulled out a revolver and said, “Give me what you got.” The thief patted the man down, taking his wallet that contained a debit card.

The thief went back to his own car and drove away. The incident was captured on the gas station security camera.