YOUNGSTOWN - Police here suspect the double homicide on East Avondale on Tuesday happened during a burglary.
Officers responded to the duplex at 240 E. Avondale about 11:30 a.m. after neighbors complained of loud banging and the front door being left open, according to a police report.
Once there, they found a 20-year-old male and a 17-year-old female dead in a bedroom on the second floor, the report states.
Police have not confirmed the victims' identities, but one of the victim's relatives, Michelle Clark, said the man was Pako Lacey and the female was his girlfriend, Juanetta Franklin, both of Youngstown. Clark said she is Lacey's aunt.
She said she went to the house after her aunt Helen Lacey called to tell her that police had notified her they were at the home. Clark said Helen Lacey raised the 20-year-old.
Clark said police told her Lacey was shot multiple times, though they would not let her see the body. She said Lacey was identified by a $100 bill tattoo on one of his arms.
A woman told police she had heard four gunshots in the area earlier Tuesday morning but did not see anyone leave the house, the report states.
Clark speculated that robbery may have been a motive, because two TVs and an X-Box were missing from the house.
Police Chief Rod Foley told Tribune news partner WYTV 33 that "it appeared it could have been a burglary in progress as the way the call came in. Our officer responded and found signs of forced entry. They made some calls into the establishment, the residence, they went inside, and that's when they found two bodies shot."
While police were investigating, at least 100 people gathered in the streets, sidewalks and yards outside the duplex, and additional officers were called to the area to help with crowd control.
The investigation is ongoing and detectives did not return calls seeking comment.
The deaths are the city's 11th and 12th homicides of 2012. Last year, Youngstown recorded 23 homicides.