Crimes at and near Seven Springs Village this semester have unnerved some of the students who live in the northern College Park apartment complex.

Seven Springs, located on Cherry Hill Road near the Beltway, is particularly popular with Indian graduate students, according to Students Council of India president Vivek Advani, with more than 100 living there, he said.

Advani, a cell biology and molecular genetics graduate student, was unhappy with police reaction to an attempted break-in to a Seven Springs apartment unit Sept. 12. Prince George’s County officers responded but did not investigate the incident.

“The thing of concern is that this incident took place around 10 or 11, which is early in the night at least as far as students are concerned … and nothing was done,” Advani said. “Nothing by the Seven Springs management, neither by police.”

County police Cpl. Henry Tippett said this particular case was not substantial enough for police to compile an official report.

Residents were even more disconcerted by an Oct. 2 armed robbery of six graduate students who were walking along a poorly lit stretch of Cherry Hill Road on their way to IHOP. Five men, including one who was armed with a handgun, confronted them.

The students said the muggers were so drunk that they continued to demand the students’ belongings after they had already handed over wallets and a cell phone.

Tippett said the victims provided detailed descriptions of two of the five muggers. The first was a black male with a dark complexion, between 16 and 18 years old, 6 feet, 2 inches tall and carrying a gun. The other suspect was described as a black male, around the same age, standing 5 feet, 4 inches tall.

No arrests have been made in that case. Advani said the students suspect their muggers were also involved in the previous attempted break-in.

Despite the student complaints, county police said they are making adjustments to better protect the residents, who live three miles north of the campus.

“We’re well aware of what happened up there,” District 1 Commander Robert Liberati said. “We’re looking at where the robberies are, and we’re trying to make adjustments to cover those areas.

“There’s just a lot of area to cover,” he said.

Seven Springs does have a security guard on staff, Advani said, but a guard isn’t always available.

Allison Shockley, an architecture graduate student, said she used to see a guard frequently at the entrance of Seven Springs after midnight checking license plates, but she hasn’t see a guard in four or five months.

Despite the drop she noticed in security, she said she feels safe at Seven Springs.

“Generally, I do [feel safe],” Shockley said. “I have two other roommates; they’re both girls. We’ve always felt safe here.”

Other students said the recent incidents have brought light to a problem that now has them worried about repeat offenses.

“I was feeling a bit safe until these incidents,” said a graduate student who wished to remain anonymous because he was the victim of a crime. “These two incidents have woken us up. Nobody knows what else could happen.”

In at least one Seven Springs building, an intercom extension for police at the front door appeared to be disconnected yesterday.

Managers at Seven Springs said they could not comment on the students’ concerns and would only pass a message to the complex’s corporate office. The messages were not returned.

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