NIAGARA FALLS

Gun scare at former school

Falls police were called to the former 60th Street school about 4:15 p.m. Thursday after a woman working there said she had seen someone from a nearby home pointing a long gun at the building.

Officers responded to the home, on the 6100 block of Lindbergh Avenue, and found a pump-action BB gun in the backyard. A woman there said she had let a friend of her son’s use the gun. The 17-year-old told police he was shooting cans in the driveway and had never pointed the gun at the former school.

Police said the youth agreed to stop shooting in the driveway.



Two stores hit by burglars

Falls police are looking into overnight break-ins at Bishara Bros. Grocery, 1302 Pierce Ave., and Safeway Foodmart, 623 Pine Ave.

Officers were called to Bishara Bros. Thursday morning after owners found that someone had smashed in a rear window and taken $732 in Newport cigarettes, $200 in candy and $213 in Philly blunts.

The owners told police they only wished a report filed and did not want crime scene officers to investigate the break-in further.

At Safeway, a front glass window was removed and $800 and an unknown amount of cigarettes were taken. Store owners had video surveillance of the break-in, which occurred about 4:15 a.m. and police were given the identity of a suspect.



Falls police warned of California man

U.S. Border Patrol Intelligence contacted Falls police about a man they recently denied entry into Canada.

Border Patrol said the man was trying to visit a girlfriend and child in Toronto but was turned away due to a lengthy criminal record. Agents noted the girlfriend couldn’t get into the U.S. either because of her criminal record.

After being turned down, the California man was spotted hanging out at the Lewiston sand docks and later stopped at a Lewiston hardware store where he asked about a set of police take-down lights for his car.

Agents warned police the man may be staying at a motel in the Falls.



GASPORT

Woman reports home invaded

A 26-year-old Gasport woman told Niagara County Sheriff’s deputies that she was assaulted, tied up and locked in a room with her 4-year-old daughter during a home invasion in her apartment late Wednesday night.

The Main Street resident suffered bruising and swelling to her head and facial cuts, the police report said.

The woman told police she was investigating a noise she heard when her door was kicked in and she was attacked by three black men in masks, before being tied up. The three men fled from the residence, taking her purse and her vehicle.

The 4-year-old girl was unharmed, the police report said.



Niagara Falls

• INCIDENT: Police were called to a 91st Street home to investigate a poisoned dog. A woman at the home told police she has been having problems with her neighbors recently and on Wednesday she noticed her rottweiler dog was acting funny. The woman’s vet said the dog had been poisoned. The dog’s treatment cost $1,000, the woman told police. A copy of the report was forwarded to the Niagara County SPCA.

• INCIDENT: Police stopped two men near the vacant Inn at the River motel Thursday afternoon. The driver of the car said they were looking at the building, about 1:30 p.m., to see if it was for sale. Officers noted there was a sledgehammer in the front seat of the car. During the interview, police determined the two men were out-of-town workers setting up the St. John’s Carnival. They were sent away from the building.

City of Lockport

• ASSAULT: Lemuel Hardy, 23, 25 Adam St., was charged Thursday with second-degree assault, first-degree burglary and third-degree menacing. An Erie Street woman told police she was in her bedroom on the computer, chatting with a friend, when she felt someone place an arm around her neck in a chokehold. The woman reportedly said she thought it was someone else in the house having fun with her. She said she realized it was someone she didn’t know and began to struggle with him, knocking over a television, the report said. The man allegedly choked the victim and punched her several times in the head and face. He allegedly fled the scene and headed north on Erie Street toward Walnut Street. Hardy, who allegedly matched the description given by the woman, was found on Walnut Street and arrested. The woman reportedly identified Hardy as the suspect.

Town of Lockport

• TRESPASS: A Hess Road man called sheriff’s deputies Wednesday to report someone in his yard. When deputies arrived, they reportedly saw the victim illuminating a tree to the east of the home. As deputies approached the victim, a man jumped down from the tree and ran east toward a wooded area, the report said. Deputies reportedly ordered the suspect to stop, but he disobeyed commands, and deputies pursued him on foot through the wooded area. Deputies checked the area and were unable to locate the suspect. Deputies were assisted by the Town of Lewiston’s K-9 officer and the New York State Police. Several pieces of landscaping equipment and heavy equipment were for sale in the front yard of the home. Deputies believe the suspect may have been trying to steal some of the items, the report said.