VCU police respond to 11 robberies over weekend

Thomas Dickson

Contributing Writer

VCU law enforcement increased operation security levels after 11 people were robbed at gunpoint this past weekend, police said.

The robbery spree started on Friday Sept. 17, when four people were mugged within a 15-minute time span near the intersection of West Grace and North Lombardy streets. The robberies continued Saturday evening when a group of seven people were held up at gunpoint by three men near the 800 block of North Harrison Street.

The sudden surge of robberies has caused VCU police to step up its presence with saturation patrols into certain areas of campus.

“We are not going to make a determination on whether or not they are going to stop,” VCU Police Lieutenant Nicole Dailey said. “We are going to step up our resources to try and make it stop.”

The recent weekend crimes have affected students across campus.

“I’m much more worried than I was before,” VCU senior Dewey Nguyen said. Nguyen lives on the 1100 block of West Grace Street, just a few buildings down from the intersection where four people were robbed.

The street is not well lit and most people do not hang out by the road, Nguyen said. The 11 reported robberies occurred in five different instances, but some robberies were not reported to VCU police.

One student, Quintin Fields, said he was held up at gunpoint on Marshall Street early Sunday morning. “I made myself as non-threatening as I could be,” Fields said.

“Things go wrong all the time … so why be stupid?” Fields called Richmond police at a later time to report the incident and told them not to respond.

VCU police recommend complying with the robbers, and to observe everything about the robbers so you can become a good witness.

“We’d rather you fare well,” Dailey said. “And not get injured in the process of dealing with the robbery.”