A group of four men robbed two university students at gunpoint just after midnight Tuesday as the two were walking along Knox Road near Rhode Island Avenue, Prince George’s County Police said.
The four men approached the students, one pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the students, and the four demanded they hand over their wallets, said Prince George’s County spokesman Cpl. Stephen Pacheco. After taking two wallets from the students, the robbers fled, Pacheco said, and investigators have no leads.
When questioned about whether crimes against students might increase as the population around the campus swells close to the start of the semester, Pacheco said he didn’t think so. No similar crimes have been reported in the area recently that he knew of, he said, and crimes such as robberies tend to increase only around the holiday season.
Although University Police do not have jurisdiction to investigate the crime, University Police spokeswoman Maj. Cathy Atwell said her department is “very concerned” about the crime, and is closely monitoring whether the robberies could expand into a pattern. She noted, however, that “[robberies] over the last few years have been pretty much all over the place in time and location. There hasn’t been a consistent pattern.”
Crime this summer, however, has decreased in comparison to last summer, according to crime alerts provided by University Police. By this time last year, police had sent out six e-mails alerting the campus community to robberies. This year, police have only sent three.
Still, with the start of the new school year, newcomers to the campus should become familiar with the city and the campus and be prepared to deal with the unexpected, Atwell said.
“People need to be aware of their surroundings,” Atwell said. “A piece of what you have to learn to survive and be successful are what are the risks, what are the safety precautions, what are the services, and how you can use them.”
Anyone with information about the robbery should call the Prince George’s County Police Department at 301-699-2954.
Contact reporter Kevin Litten at littendbk@gmail.com.
