Two men — one with a semi-automatic handgun — broke into two Old Town houses, robbed and threatened the residents Saturday afternoon.
Prince George’s County Police spokeswoman Sgt. Michelle Reedy said two men entered the residences on the 7500 block of Princeton Ave. and demanded the occupants hand over drugs and other property at about 4:45 p.m. Police would not identify what else was taken from the houses.
Reedy said the two men ran down College Avenue and were last seen by witnesses heading toward the College Park Metro station.
A crime alert was sent out to the university community in the evening — about four hours after the incident occurred. This was the fourth crime alert of the semester from county police. The previous three incidents were robberies on or near Route 1.
According to the crime alert, the two suspects were men in their early 20s with “slim” builds and wearing sweatshirts and blue jeans. The first suspect was described as white, 5 feet 11 inches tall and was armed with a black semi-automatic handgun with silver trim. The second suspect was described as black and 5 feet 8 inches tall.
County police said the investigation is ongoing, and are encouraging any individuals with information regarding the incident, or who may be able to identify the suspects, to contact police.
Senior agricultural and resource economics major Gabriel Kay, who lives next door to the victims, said he saw the aftermath of the incident when he walked out of his house at 5 p.m. Saturday and saw six police cars and a forensics truck. He said detectives came to his house a little later and asked him if he saw anything or anyone, but he hadn’t.
Kay said county police officers told him the robbery was drug-related — the crime report noted the suspects “demanded drugs” from the victims before stealing other property.
Kay, who has lived in the neighborhood for about two years, said he still feels secure in the area despite the crime.
“I feel totally safe,” Kay said. “I’ve never had an issue.”
But his roommate, senior economics major Ari Bellen, said he’s never felt more scared about living on his block. Bellen said because crime alerts tend to highlight robberies that happen east of Route 1, it’s always in the back of residents’ minds.
He added that he’s frightened of the area, but doesn’t know what to do other than lock his door.
The Saturday incident is also not the first he has heard of in their neighborhood.
Last summer, Bellen said when one of his roommates was living in the house by himself, he said he heard a window shatter. His roommate told him there was a man on the roof, but he ran away once his roommate had woken up.
The incident was never reported to police, Bellen added. His roommate could not be reached for comment.
botelho@umdbk.com
