Hostage situation

Hostage situation

LIBERTY

A hostage situation at a township residence Sunday ended peacefully about three hours after the Liberty, Girard and Youngstown police departments, along with the Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force, arrived at the scene.

Liberty Police Chief Richard Tisone said police responded to a home at the corner of Hadley and Trumbull avenues about 12:30 p.m. Sunday, after receiving a report of people having entered the home with a gun and holding those inside at gunpoint. Tisone said the police department has received calls to the house before.

The situation ended about 3:30 p.m., he said, after the female suspect came out of the house, followed not long afterward by a male suspect. Both were arrested and taken to the Trumbull County jail. The other male suspect did get away, but police know who he is, and a warrant will likely be issued for his arrest today.

The suspects face felony charges including several kinds of kidnapping, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery, Tisone said. In addition, two of the victims — of the about six or seven people in the house who were held hostage — were arrested for having outstanding warrants.

The only person injured was one of the suspects, who was bitten by a dog on the premises.

Robbery, menacing

NILES

A 22-year-old Warren man will appear today in Niles Municipal Court in connection with a gas station robbery over the weekend.

Joseph Daniel Jr., of Brier Street Southeast, was arrested on charges of aggravated robbery and aggravated menacing — a first-degree felony and fifth-degree felony, respectively. Police say he robbed the Fuel Plus gas station, 140 W. Park Ave., using a small silver handgun shortly before midnight Friday.

According to the Niles Police Department’s Facebook page, the suspect took money from the register and customers in the store before fleeing on foot, leaving a handgun and other evidence later found by the Warren City Police Department in his wake.

An officer from the Weathersfield Police Department eventually spotted and arrested the suspect.