Another Northwestern Student Attacked For His Cell Phone
EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) -- Another Northwestern University student was attacked by robbers for his cell phone overnight, in the third such incident in just the past few weeks on or near the Evanston campus.
As WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports, around 10:40 p.m. Tuesday, the student was walking in the South Quad on the walkway between the Cahn Auditorium and Scott Hall, close to Sheridan Road and Emerson Street.
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The student took his cell phone out when three young men on bicycles came up in the opposite direction on the walkway. Two of the boys tried to grab the student's cell phone, but he resisted and was able to keep it.
The young men rode off empty-handed.
The student went back to his dorm and told a community service officer and Northwestern University police. They stopped a man matching the description of the suspects, but the victim couldn't identify the would-be suspect as the robber.
The suspects are only described as three Hispanic males wearing black jackets.
This is the second cell phone robbery at Northwestern that has made the headlines this week.
Around 1:20 a.m. Sunday, a Northwestern student was standing on his porch in the 2000 block of Ridge Avenue in Evanston, when four teenage boys came up and asked for directions. The student took his smart phone out to help them, but they grabbed it and ran off.
The block where the theft happened is located just west of the main Northwestern campus, and is dominated by houses and a large university office building.
The four teens in that incident were all thought to be around 16 or 17 years old. Further descriptions were not issued.
Evanston police said four juvenile suspects were questioned Monday regarding that robbery and other incidents in Evanston. One of the boys was charged with residential burglary and theft from a person in relation to that crime, police said.
In a third recent incident on around 11:30 p.m. Oct. 22, a male Northwestern student was walking south on Sheridan Road near University Place when someone came up from behind and asked him what time it was.
The student pulled out his smart phone, told him the time, and kept walking. But soon after he turned west on University Place, the same man again approached him from behind, grabbed him and demanded his smart phone.
The suspect -- who said he had a knife but did not show one -- punched the student in the face, snatched the phone from his hands and pushed him down. The suspect then ran off down Sherman Avenue into downtown Evanston.
The suspect in that case is described as black and between the ages of 18 and 22, about 6 feet 1 inch to 6 feet 2 inches tall. The suspect weighs about 180 pounds, has an average build and was wearing a multi-colored hat with stripes and blue jeans during the robbery.
University police advise all community members to be alert when traveling on or off campus, especially at night. They also ask that any suspicious activity be reported to university or Evanston police.
Meanwhile, anyone with information on the unsolved robberies should contact the Evanston Police, (847) 866-5000.
