PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Police are investigating a robbery that turned into an assault in Squirrel Hill. The victim says businesses along Murray Avenue need to be on guard.
“We’ve just been robbed, get up here now,” said Autumn Janosov.
That was the call Autumn Janosov got Thursday morning from her grandfather, Ron Cope, who was opening up the Steel Town Tavern restaurant along Murray Avenue.
Janosov, who owns Steel Town Tavern, said, “Typically he is always here that early, so in my eyes they had to have been watching.”
It was 9 a.m. when Cope, who is in his 70s, put the specials sign outside the business. He says a man he didn’t know followed him into the bar.
“This guy figured I was an old man, and he got a shock when he seen what I did,” Cope said.
Because of the injuries Cope suffered, we spoke with him over the phone. Cope says the stranger is homeless and saw cash on the bar that he quickly swiped.
“I said give me my money back and I like grabbed his arm and he slammed me on the floor of the bar,” Cope said. ”I opened the door up; he grabbed me. Threw me to the ground and into a car - headfirst, and I scraped my arm up and hit my head.”
“He chased after him across the street finally ended up getting a hand on him. There was two other homeless men waiting for that guy and must have passed my money off to them. Because when the cops had searched him, he didn’t have any of my money on him,” Janosov said.
Cope was able to hold the man on the ground until officers arrived
Our cameras captured a man panhandling along Murray Avenue right across from Steel Town Tavern.
“It is at every business; it is at every street corner. It is everywhere. They sleep directly outside every night,” Janosov explained.
She and her grandfather say it’s an issue that needs to be addressed so it doesn’t happen again.
She said, “People want to live here. People want to bring their kids here, people want to walk up and down the avenue and feel safe, and if these things are happening at 9 in the morning, what’s happening at night?”
Pittsburgh Police told Janosov that they’ll be doing extra patrols along Murray Avenue.
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