Armed Ohio citizens stop crimes
A would-be robbery victim fired back at his masked attackers overnight, despite being shot three times himself. That gunshot victim is now recovering from surgery at the hospital. The attack happened just before 1 a.m. Wednesday on Robert Avenue in Westwood. Police are still looking for the suspects. The shooting victim, Charles Pryor, has a concealed carry permit for his gun. After being shot three times, he told police he was able to fire off one shot at one of the attackers.
"I heard the pow, pow, pow, with the little gun and then I heard the big shots," said Ola Burton, who was inside her Robert Avenue home when she heard her grand-daughter's boyfriend pounding on the front door. She opened the door to find him covered in blood. "And he said 'Ms. Ola, it's Charles. I've been shot. I've been shot open the door,'" Burton repeated to 9News. Charles Pryor, Jr., was coming to the home to pick up his girlfriend. As he got out of the car, he told police three masked men pulled up along side him, jumped out and opened fire. "He said 'they had on masks and tried to rob me and they got in a silver Ford Focus but I shot one of them,'" Burton said. A short time later, a man with a gunshot wound to the buttocks came to the Good Samaritan emergency room for treatment. Police are now talking with that man.
As for Charles Pryor, he's expected to recover. Burton says Pryor got the concealed carry permit because he had been robbed before. She believes the decision kept him from being killed Wednesday morning. "It saved his life, I think. I think it saved him. I think so," said Burton. Charles Pryor suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, arm, and leg. 9News was told the bullet just missed his heart, and Pryor is expected to recover.
Two teens, captured by a gun-toting Broad Street resident early Saturday morning, probably played a role in the rash of burglaries plaguing the city during recent weeks, said Police Chief Jon Arcaro.
“No doubt, they were behind some of the thefts, but there are others involved, too,” he said. “There’s another group (of thieves) out there, working independently (of the arrested teens).”
A 69-year-old man, alerted by a barking dog and a neighbor’s frantic telephone call, got the drop on the young thieves around 5:22 a.m., police said. Armed with a pistol, the resident caught the suspects — ages 16 and 17 — in his garage, officers said.
The youths immediately surrendered, and police found them sprawled on the garage floor, guarded by the homeowner, officers said. The teens were taken to the youth detention center in Ashtabula Township, police said.
Their dog’s barks woke up the man and his wife, and moments later a neighbor called to report seeing someone rummaging through the couple’s vehicle.
Police discovered the garage had been ransacked, and some of the couple’s possessions were found strewn around the youths. Officers also found a pipe containing suspected marijuana residue, with the teens.
Thieves have been taking tools and other merchandise from garages and sheds across the city the past few weeks, prompting bulletins from police.
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