WARREN, Ohio - Warren police are investigating an armed home invasion that left a man dead and woman wounded.

Police were called to a home on the 400 block of Oak Street SW where a man and a woman were shot shortly after noon on Thursday.

The male victim, identified as 21- year-old Jeremy Cole, died. His death is now being investigated as a homicide.

A family friend, who did not want to appear on camera, says she helped the wounded woman whom she identified as Melissa Putnam, a young mother who was in the process of moving back into the home with the help of a male friend after leaving the neighborhood because she feared for her safety.

"I seen her sitting right on the ground. So, I ran up to her. I got her blood on me trying to hold her to keep her calm so the police can talk to her to get the description of the guy and everything. She was all hysterical and stuff. I was just trying to help her out," the friend said.

The friend says Putnam was shot in the hand. She couldn't think of a reason why she would be targeted. "She said that somebody had broken into the house, forced their way into the house, and was there to rob her. That somebody had sent him there," the friend said.

It's a scenario that's all too common according to those who live in the neighborhood. "This is a usual thing, Friday, Saturday, it's going on all the time," said neighbor Matthew Cooper. 

Neighbors describe Putnam and her boyfriend, who was not home at the time of the shootings, as people who kept to themselves and who were in the process of fixing up the property.

But Cooper says his neighborhood has been plagued by violence and he doesn't expect this to be the last example. "It's not safe here. Not around this area, not at all."

Neighbors gave police a description of the suspect, but no arrests have been.