Liberty cops are not doing their jobs, shop owners say

LIBERTY

Business owners who have stores on Belmont Avenue said police are not doing enough to protect their stores or investigate crimes there.

At three of their stores within a half-mile stretch, they say, there have been nine break-ins.

Dan Qutail, who owns a BP station at the corner of Belmont and Gypsy Lane, said he gave video surveillance tapes to the police after that store was broken into five times. The first break-in there was in July. The others were in October, and the last was Sunday.

At Belmont Wireless, owned by Nadil Aburahma, there have been three break-ins. There also was one at the Hookah Cafe, which he owns.

One of those break-ins had a possible tie to Larry McDonald, the man accused in the killing of Abdullah Nagi Mahdi, 29, who died after a shootout during a robbery at his store on Youngstown’s South Side on Wednesday.

A detective was given that evidence, Aburahma said.

Aburahma said he wants to know why police didn’t follow up on contacting McDonald for questioning in that case.

Read more about the complaints and a trustee's response in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.