Robber takes presents of 3 small kids as they slept

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Three city residents were confronted by burglars Wednesday, according to police reports.

At 4 a.m., a burglar terrorized a 20-year-old mother on Zents Avenue while her three small children slept, a police report says.

The burglar kicked in the front door, then confronted her in her upstairs bedroom.

She told police she heard him cock a gun. He told her to get on the floor or he would shoot her.

He took her cell phone, and she heard him moving through the apartment. After he left, she got her children and fled, calling family members to help her.

Later, police met her at her apartment, where she discovered the burglar had taken Christmas presents along with her phone.

On North Bon Air Avenue, a 36-year-old woman heard knocking and scratching at her back door around

11:45 a.m. She saw two men trying to pry off molding from the door window. She yelled and banged on the wall, and they ran away.

Police said a 25-year-old man chased one would-be burglar away from his Woodbine Avenue house around 4:15 p.m., and the suspect, Andre Swanson, 32, of Mount Claire in Youngstown, shot at him at least four times. The victim was not hurt.

Police found Swanson hiding under the porch of a vacant house on Bryson Street. He resisted arrest but was subdued, the report said.

The victim told police he and his 32-year-old girlfriend had heard loud banging at their door. He looked out and saw a man wearing a mask up to his eyes. He saw a screwdriver in his hand and believed the man was there to rob them. He went outside to confront him and chased him north on Florencedale Avenue. His girlfriend called police.

A police officer found the two on Florencedale and chased Swanson on foot to the Bryson house, the report says.

Swanson is charged with felonious assault, resisting arrest, possession of criminal tools, aggravated trespassing and obstructing official business. He was taken to the Mahoning County jail.