In addition to responding to calls for several crime reports within a half hour late Monday night, Prince George’s County Police also tailed a car stolen from University Courtyard just before midnight. Police now believe the four incidents were unrelated.
University Police monitoring Prince George’s Police radio transmissions heard about a carjacking near Courtyard, University Police spokeswoman Maj. Cathy Atwell said. After arriving on scene, university and county police met with a food deliveryman who told police he had a gun pointed at his face before his car was stolen, Atwell said.
“Later that night, the victim clarified he had left his car with the keys in the ignition, locked and running, and when he came back to it was gone,” Atwell said.
After patrol cars were told to look out for the gray Chevrolet Monte Carlo, county police spotted it and followed the stolen car. They tailed it into Washington, Atwell said, but lost sight of it near the 4300 block of 1st Street.
Last night, robbers reportedly stole laptops and possibly cell phones during a home invasion of Knox Towers in which a student was punched in the face. After responding to that call, Prince George’s police raced to a reported robbery and assault on Norwich Road and Princeton Avenue, a third call about the car and another call for service at Hartwick Road and Route 1, which turned out to be a false alarm.
Most of the crimes Tuesday night involved interaction of two agencies: University Police responded to both the report of the stolen vehicle and the Towers robbery; in each instance, Prince George’s Police became involved in responding as well.
Police made a speedy response to calls – some of which came within 10 minutes of each other – because so many were already in the area.
Davis said county police were still working to catch the gunmen who robbed the students in Knox Towers.
“We’ve been in constant contact with University of Maryland campus police,” Davis said. “I have additional uniformed resources in College Park tonight and the rest of the week to work closely with the University of Maryland police in an effort to apprehend the persons involved in these incidents.”
The apparent crime spree comes on the heels of a Courtyard robbery around dusk on Monday, a stabbing outside South Campus Commons the weekend before Spring Break and the recent release of statistics showing city robberies jumped 34 percent last year over 2004 and hit a five-year high.
Contact reporter Kevin Litten at littendbk@gmail.com.
