McKees Rocks police ask residents to be aware of surroundings after armed robbery

McKees Rocks police are asking residents to be aware of their surroundings after a male suspect held a citizen at gunpoint and stole several items from their home.

Officers posted on the department’s Facebook page about the Wednesday evening incident and encouraged residents to keep an eye out for things that are unusual in their neighborhoods.

Police said in the post that the suspect lay in wait outside a Frederick Street house for the resident to get home, held a gun to the citizen’s back and forced his way inside. The suspect took the items, which were not detailed by investigators in the post, and fled on foot to a vehicle police believe was waiting nearby.

“Look around you, try to notice what belongs and what doesn’t,” the post states. “Unfamiliar faces, suspicious activity, suspicious vehicles, people loitering for no reason in dark spaces.”

The incident comes in the same week as authorities are investigating two shootings hours apart in the borough.

A 39-year-old man was killed early Tuesday after being shot at 2 a.m. on Island Avenue, according to police. He and three other adults were inside a parked vehicle when shots apparently were fired at it.

Two and a half hours earlier, police said a boy was injured in another shooting Monday night on Mary Street. He was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg. Police did not provide his age but they expected him to survive.

It was unclear if the shootings were related.