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Weekend crimes keep Youngstown police busy
YOUNGSTOWN
Police are investigating several weekend crimes, including an unexplained arson, robberies and shots fired at several houses.
Police are looking for two men responsible for robbing a 61-year-old grandmother and her 19-year-old granddaughter at gunpoint as the two women returned to their South Side home late Saturday.
According to police, the two women returned to the Idlewood Avenue home about midnight and were met at the door by two armed men. The men forced the women into the basement of the house, demanding valuables.
Police arrived at the house shortly after the women came home for a routine check. The grandmother was made to answer the door and tell the responding officers everything was “OK” while the two intruders listened.
The men ultimately took $30 from the older woman’s purse and cellphones from both women before fleeing.
Police determined the men entered the house through a window.
Police are looking for the person responsible for firing shots in a West Side neighborhood early Sunday, waking homeowners and leaving three homes struck by gunfire.
According to police, a man in the 100 block of Silliman Avenue called police about 3:45 a.m. to report the gunfire. The man later realized his home had been hit multiple times by bullets.
Before officers could finish speaking with the man, they were approached by two other residents on the same block saying their houses also were hit by bullets.
Police also are investigating a house bit by gunfire Saturday night on the South Side.
Residents of a house in the 2200 block of Rush Boulevard said they heard multiple gunshots about 8 p.m. and noticed bullets coming through the front side of the home.
Multiple shots also were fired into a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix sitting in front of the house.
Fires were set at houses on Florence Avenue and Crandall Avenue late Sunday and early Monday.
An 18-year-old Florence Avenue woman said she was watching television just before 11 p.m. Saturday when she heard a knock on her neighbor’s door and realized the neighbor’s porch was on fire.
The woman’s brother put the fire out before it could spread.
A woman living in the 400 block of Crandall Avenue told police she was asleep about 1:39 a.m. when she heard someone breaking windows in her home.
She inspected the window and found a chair on fire on her front porch.
She told police she ran to get help, and the fire had gone out before she returned to the house.