UPDATED: Warren police search for killer proves fruitless

WARREN – Customers patronized Freddie’s Diner on the North Side because of the family atmosphere, an eatery where the owners and their help knew what folks wanted before ordering.

“It didn’t feel like a restaurant; it felt like a home,” said long-time customer David Lee Morgan Sr., of Ivanhoe Street, around the corner from Freddie’s on North Park Avenue

But that home-style atmosphere was wrecked mid-Tuesday morning when a robber shot and killed the owner, 89-year-old Fred A. DeVengencie of Westwood Street, and seriously wounded his 71-year-old son and co-operator, Anthony DeVengencie, of Youngtown-Niles Road.

The city police SWAT team surrounded a four-plex on North Park near Atlantic Street, entered the structure about 2 p.m. But the search for a suspect there was fruitless.

Capt. Tim Roberts and Detective Wayne Mackey said it was the department’s police dog that led police from the diner to the four-plex a few blocks away.

Mackey said the DeVengencies were in the diner with two employees when a man entered through the side kitchen door. There were no customers inside shortly before 9 a.m.