Youngstown State University police sent out another YSU Alert text message early Monday morning. The message, which was sent out around 2:30 a.m. as YSU students slept off the final hours of the weekend, alerted students to an armed robbery on the 200 block of Alameda Avenue — about six blocks north of Wick Park.
The assailants were described as black males between 16-17 years old who were wearing dark hoodies with red and black bandanas and who were armed with handguns.
That description is quite similar to that of the alert sent out on Aug. 22 which warned YSU students of another robbery — one of three between Aug. 17 and Aug. 22 — that involved two black males between the ages of 16 and 18, one of which was wearing a red shirt and white pants. Of course, that’s a pretty vague account when you take into consideration that someone can change clothes over the course of two weeks. The part about “young black males” doesn’t really narrow things down too much, either.
As we said during the initial string of robberies, these incidents should not reflect on the university. They still shouldn’t. But they should reflect on the neighborhood.
There are people around Wick Park that are trying to help the neighborhood — to fix it up, make it look nice and make people feel safe once more. Clearly, that is still a work in progress.
For the time being, we urge you to take every precaution for your safety, especially in the areas north of Wick Park. Travel in groups, keep an eye out for suspicious looking individuals and don’t do anything stupid.
We don’t want to lose any of you.
