Police probe weekend robberies, assaults


By John W. Goodwin Jr.

jgoodwin@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Police are investigating several robberies and assaults reported over the weekend.

A 49-year-old Struthers man told police he was fishing Saturday afternoon in the Mahoning River near Marshall Street. The man said he managed to catch two 12-inch carp before running into a 60-year-old white male he knows only as “Tony.”

The man said Tony yelled, “I’ll show you what Vietnam is like” before producing a large knife and hitting him over the head with the blunt end of the weapon, then punching and kicking him after he fell. Tony then made off with the man’s fish and fishing rods.

The victim said he managed to walk to the city bus station downtown looking for help. He was taken to ValleyCare Northside Medical Center for treatment.

Police still are looking for the man who robbed a Rite Aid drug store Saturday night in the 3900 block of Canfield Road. The man — described as a white male, about 30 years old, of medium build and wearing blue jeans and a black coat — did not have a gun, but came to the cash register to pay for a piece of candy. When the register was opened, the man said he wanted the money and reached inside taking a small amount of cash.

The suspect ran out of the store to a dark gray car parked on Canfield Road to make his escape.

Police also are looking into the beating and stabbing of a 26-year-old East Side man Saturday at a bar in the 1400 block of Oak Street.

The man told police he was inside the bar about 1:40 a.m. when he got into an argument with an unidentified man over a female. The argument, he told police, progressed into a fight, and he was ultimately jumped on by about 10 men inside the bar. He is not sure who stabbed him.

Police found the man walking along Oak Street bleeding from his legs. He was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment.

Angel Ross, a 24-year-old Florist Avenue woman, is in the Mahoning County jail on a felonious assault charge after allegedly stabbing her husband with a steak knife during an alcohol-fueled argument Saturday evening.

Police found the 24-year-old husband with a bloodied right hand, bloodied elbow, scratches on his chest and a cigarette burn to his biceps. There were knife marks in a kitchen door where Ross is believed to have attempted to cut through the door after her husband closed it.

Reports say Ross was speaking erratically and smelled of alcohol when police arrived at the couple’s North Side home.

Police also found the couple’s 3-month-old baby inside the home, but the child appeared to be safe.