Investigators Hope Video Leads To Arrests Following Recent U Robberies
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Three University of Minnesota students have been robbed in the past three days.
The robberies all happened between 10 p.m. and 3:30 a.m., and all occurred in the heart of campus: The first on Tuesday, near the intersection of 11th Avenue SE and 6th Street; the second on Wednesday, near 14th Avenue SE and 8th Street; and the third early Thursday morning, at 930 University Avenue.
Investigators hope surveillance video leads them to the men responsible for robbing the students at gunpoint.
"They usually approach a single student or single person that is walking around, and [the victims] are threatened by a black handgun," said Lt. Sean McGinty, with the Minneapolis Police Department's Robbery Unit.
The robbers take whatever the students have -- cash, electronics, debit cards, and student IDs.
McGinty says that police believe the robberies are connected because of what the perpetrators allegedly tell their victims; they instruct them to "walk the other way" and not to follow them.
Investigators also say that surveillance video caught one of the suspects.
When the third victim saw the men approaching, he turned and ran inside a building. One of the would-be robbers followed him inside.
McGinty hopes video from the building will help them identify who they are looking for. He says his investigators are also following other leads.
"There was one debit card that was used at a convenience store, so we are also pursuing that lead," McGinty said.
For university students, the robberies come as a shock and has them on guard whenever they walk on campus.
Police are looking for two men between 20 and 25 years of age.
One is between 6-feet and 6-feet, 2-inches tall; the other is between 5-feet, 7-inches and 5-feet, 9-inches tall.
Anyone with information on the robberies is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.