Robbers let student grab books before stealing backpack

Two men robbed a student at gunpoint and took his backpack, wallet and cell phone, but the victim was able to convince them to let him keep his text books before they left.

The robbery occurred shortly before 9:30 p.m. November 9 (see our earlier story) near 23rd Ave and Main St, according to the police report. The victim was almost to his apartment building when a man approached him and said, “Oh, hold on, hold on, hold on. Give me your stuff!” He then pulled out a small black handgun and pointed it at the victim’s face.

The victim handed over his backpack and was ordered onto his knees. A second suspect appeared, and the two asked him if he had any money or a cell phone. The victim handed over his wallet and phone.

Then the victim asked the robbers if he could get something from the bag. The suspect with the gun opened the bag, and the victim asked for his music theory and organic chemistry books. The man gave the books to the victim, but the second suspect grew uneasy, saying, “We don’t have time for this.”

The suspects left on foot and were not found. Police confiscated the text books as evidence.

0 thoughts on “Robbers let student grab books before stealing backpack

  1. Something odd about this headline. Are we supposed to think “gee, what nice robbers?” “Glad I live in the CD, where some of the robbers will let you keep some of your stuff.” huh?

    I’m glad the victim wasn’t physically harmed. But annoyed that his textbooks were confiscated by the police.

    That seems like adding insult to the injury – especially if they weren’t stolen – then how could they be evidence? Fingerprints? A test for finger prints could be quickly done on them – then returned to the poor guy if nothing found. Do they confiscate everyone’s doorknobs, window frames, and tv remotes when there is a home burglary? Could be fingerprints on those too.

    I suggest a better headline – “Struggling student gets robbed twice in one night. Once by crooks and second time by cops.”

  2. These gangs need to be brought under control. As we have seen, they are moving their crimes out of their ghettos and into our neighborhoods. The kind of thing noted in the article should be expected for the CD – the place is neck deep in criminals and drug dealers and frankly should be ‘cleansed.’

  3. I thought the CD couldn’t be as bad as LA (where I grew up). However, it’s actually not too far off. I walk through this area often. I think I’ll reconsider walking places. Also, I think my fiance and I will need to consider when we can sell the house. As much as I do not like suburbia, I never felt like I could get mugged on a daily basis.

  4. Sure they will test for fingerprints. Just like when my place was broken into, twice, by the landlord’s son, who stole my roommate’s boom box and CDs back in the 1990s. Yeah, the SPD were right on the case then, just like now. We told the SPD that the kid had a key, and he tried to break in again (the door chains we installed stopped him). SPD said “well, that’s not enough to….” The usual bullshit.

    Glad this dude didn’t get hurt. But the SPD won’t catch the robbers. I’m not persuaded they will even try.

  5. I’d guess that they’ll pay more attention to this one because it involved a gun. Nonviolent crimes just don’t get the same priority.

  6. So, the student/victim tried to keep his books, but in the end the police confiscated them. Im not sure if it’s Orwellian or Kafka-esqu.

  7. Cops take notoriously poor fingerprints. It just isn’t their specialty. If cops want good prints, they confiscate the item and have AFIS techs print it. Maybe they did that, in this case, so they might actually catch the offender rather than ruin perfectly good prints like the cops who printed my burgled house, then later my car, did. Both times the prints were worthless due to poor collection of them according to AFIS staff.