Police again will beef up North Side patrols

Police again will beef up North Side patrols

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Police will be adding extra patrols again to the North Side after an armed robbery of some Youngstown State University students over the weekend.

Police Chief Rod Foley said Monday that investigators had a feeling two juveniles they arrested last month after a similar string of attacks had help, and he thinks Sunday morning’s robbery confirms that.

“We had a feeling we didn’t get all of them,” Foley said.

The four YSU students said they were robbed early Sunday as they were on the back steps of a home in the 1600 block of Fifth Avenue. There were five or six juveniles who were dressed in black with their faces covered, the victims said. Reports said one of the men thought they heard the safety on a gun being pulled back.

Taken was cash and cigarettes, reports said.

Foley said the crime is similar to the earlier ones in which two juveniles are in custody.

Michael Curry, 17, and 16-year-old Laekwon Brown were arrested Sept. 10 and 12, respectively.

Before Curry and Brown were arrested, city police along with YSU police and deputies from the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office ran extra patrols in the area and did make arrests for weapons and drugs of other people. Foley says he wants to start those patrols again.

“We’re definitely going to make sure we have higher visibility,” Foley said.