The third robbery involving a student victim last week occurred Monday, Sept. 20, behind the James Branch Cabell Library. Police reported that it occurred about 11 p.m. on Linden Street. This was the seventh robbery this month.
“Eventually we will catch (the assailants),” said Paul Timmreck, senior vice president for finance and administration. “I’m confident of that.”
In an e-mail to students, faculty and staff, Timmreck reported that Monday’s incident occurred when a man holding a small handgun approached a male student and demanded money. The student complied.
Police described the suspect as being a 17- to 18-year-old African-American about 5-feet-10-inches tall with a chubby build and round face.
In the first robbery, three men – at least two with guns — exited a tan sedan and approached a male student, demanding his wallet. The robbery occurred at 1:45 a.m. Sept. 19 in Oregon Hill, the neighborhood directly south of the Monroe Park Campus.
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The second incident happened at 2:26 a.m. that same day in the 1800 block of West Main Street. After exiting a green sedan, two men armed with silver-colored handguns walked up to three students, demanding that the students “Give us all you got.”
“We take these crimes – obviously – very seriously,” said VCU Police Chief Willie Fuller. “We feel an obligation to work in conjunction with Richmond Police Department to pool our resources.”
Fuller said police thus far know of no connections in the three robberies, but his department is aiding the city police in its investigation.
The VCU Police Department, he said, has set up a robbery task force and is “talking to witnesses, getting as much information from victims as we possibly can.”
Police urge students, faculty, staff and others in the VCU community, especially those in the Oregon Hill and Fan districts, to call the VCU Police Investigations Division at 828-6409 with any information regarding the recent robberies.
“We feel the more engaged your police officers are with your students’ everyday lives – not just when there’s something awful going on – then that reinforces trust (and) open lines of communication,” Fuller said. “The students are given the information all the time. It’s really instrumental in making sure we have a relatively safe campus even though we’re in the middle of downtown Richmond.”