Multiple weekend robberies keep city police busy


By John W. Goodwin Jr.

jgoodwin@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Police are investigating multiple robberies occurring at different times and locations over the weekend.

Police are still looking for two men involved in an attempted robbery near Youngstown State University that led to a campuswide alert Sunday.

According to police, two white males between 25 and 30 years old driving a white Ford Explorer pulled alongside two men walking along Elm Street near Madison Avenue just before 6 a.m. Sunday.

One man, wearing a baggy, red T-shirt and appearing to be intoxicated, got out of the car and demanded the men’s possessions. The other man in the car, wearing a hoodie and baggy clothes, got out and assisted in the robbery.

The victims were beaten, but nothing was taken.

A store owner a short distance away from the attempted robbery is out of about $7,000 after a robbery at his store Sunday afternoon.

Police said the description of the three men in the store robbery do not match that of the two men in the Elm Street attempted robbery.

Store video of the Sunday robbery shows two men — one a tall, thin dark-skinned black male in a black jacket, black pants and skull cap, and the other a light-brownskinned black male with a full beard and mustache, also wearing a black jacket, black pants and skull cap — walked into the store at 5:38 p.m. Both of the men began beating the store owner.

A third man came into the store while the beating was taking place and began to steal various items, including a cigar box behind the counter containing the weekly cash for the business. A gun was placed to the owner’s head, but no shots were fired.

Police found the store owner bleeding from the head and tending to his wounds.

Police are also still looking for a white male about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing about 140 pounds, wearing a red hat and brown coat believed to have robbed Metallico Metals on Division Street at gunpoint Saturday.

The man came into the store at 8:35 a.m. and asked about pricing. He then pulled out a handgun and demanded cash. The female employee handed over an undetermined amount of money and the man ran out of the store.

Also on Saturday, three people who live outside of the city — North Jackson, Austintown and McDonald — told police they were robbed at gunpoint while driving through the South Side heading to a friend’s house in Struthers.

The trio said as they were driving on Ravenwood Avenue near Southern Boulevard at 2 a.m., they stopped and a black male teenager pulled out a gun and demanded money. Another older black male stood outside the car, they said.

Both men ran off with about $21 and three cellphones.

An East Side woman also lost her car during a robbery Saturday morning.

The 33-year-old woman said she was sitting in her 2006 Kia SUV on Sunshine Avenue about 6:30 a.m. when a black man appearing to be about 20 years old with a hood over his face and head ran up to the car and took the vehicle. The woman said she threw the keys at the man and ran.