In a span of 15 minutes, a Syracuse University graduate student was robbed Thursday night, along with an attempted robbery of three other students near the SU campus.

DPS reports that three men approached three graduate students walking near Stratford Street and Sumner Avenue at 8:40 p.m. and asked them for change. After the graduate students told the suspects they had no money, two of the suspects showed a handgun and a knife.

The three men left without harming or stealing from any of the three students.

Fifteen minutes later, on Comstock Avenue, between Acorn Path and East Colvin Street, three unknown men approached a graduate student walking alone. Two of the thieves also showed a pistol and a blade, stealing cash and a cellphone from the student, before fleeing into Oakwood Cemetery. The student is unharmed, DPS reported.

Because the crimes happened before 9 p.m., the University-Area Crime-Control Team was not on patrol, DPS Chief Tony Callisto said.

“We’re deploying a little earlier tonight in an effort to minimize the likelihood of a reoccurrence,” he said.

Callisto said that the two incidents are connected and believes the three suspects are the same in both crimes.

In the email, DPS described the suspects as wearing dark or grey-colored hooded sweatshirts with a Syracuse logo printed on the torso on one of the three.  The investigation is now being lead by the Syracuse Police Department.

alng@syr.edu

 

Published on August 30, 2013 at 12:21 pm

Contact Alfred: alng@syr.edu

@alfredwkng