YOUNGSTOWN — The people inside a home in the 300 block of West Earle Avenue on the South Side got enough of a scare when gunshots were fired at their house at 5:11 a.m. Saturday, but they found something potentially worse.

Police responded to a ShotSpotter notification at the home and learned from the residents that the front door of the house and the area just around the front door had been hit by gunfire at least three times. A vehicle also had been hit once by a bullet, according to a police report.

The people in the house told officers they were awoken to the sound of the gunfire, according to a Youngstown police report. But they also found a Mason jar with a gasoline-soaked rag in it on the front porch.

Police observed the Mason jar, which the report called a Molotov cocktail, which is a device that has been associated with arson. An officer also recovered a bullet fragment from the back seat of the car and collected it as evidence.

An officer collected nine shell casings from the street in front of the house, the report states.

Police also notified the Youngstown Fire Department, which collected the “incendiary device” from the porch. The items were preserved as evidence.

The report did not state that anyone was injured.

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