News | 4/7/08

Media Credit: Patrick Smith File Photo [Click to enlarge]

Two Towson University students were held a gunpoint and robbed early Sunday morning, about 2:20 a.m., according to a crime alert sent out by the Towson University Police Department.

While walking on Cross Campus Drive, the students were approached by a black male wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and armed with a semi-automatic handgun, according to the crime alert. The suspect was described as 5-feet 9-inches, between the ages of 20 an 25 and weighing 150 pounds.

The victims were threatened and the suspect took their cell phones and a debit card. The suspect then fled on Cross Campus Drive, heading west in a dark colored vehicle, then south on Osler Drive, according to TUPD.

There is an ongoing investigation by the Baltimore County Police Department, according to TUPD Captain Joe Herring.

No information could be released about the victims; however, Herring confirmed they were not injured.

Despite the incident's proximity to the University, the incident was list as an off-campus armed robbery.

"It occurred on the public sidewalk off the main roadway. I know it's a matter of semantics, but we have to label it as something," Herring said.

The last time The Towerlight reported an off-campus armed robbery was on Feb. 29, when a female student walking on Osler Drive was robbed at knifepoint.

When crimes occur both on and off campus, the TUPD sends out a crime alert to students and staff through the University's e-mail service and text messages. There were no text messages sent regarding Sunday's robbery.

"We did not send a text alert because we were able to ascertain from [the victims] that the suspect had fled off campus and that there was not an immediate or ongoing danger to the campus," Herring said.

Despite the robbery, some students in the Glen Towers adjacent to Cross Campus Drive believe Towson is safe.

"It was kind of nerve-wracking because I never really thought being on that road I'd ever be robbed because it's kind of close by to everything else. But I still feel safe," Greg Janes, a freshman physics major and resident of Tower A, said.

Janes said he heard about the robbery that night via a phone call from a friend.

Other students who received the crime alert e-mail reacted differently to the news.

"[I was] kind of scared, especially when they say the suspect had a semi-automatic handgun. I always come back from Ward Hall late at night, but I usually look around and carry a small knife," Mike Bauwens, a freshman economics major, said. "For now, I still think it's pretty safe. I mean you get these bad incidents, but for living outside of Baltimore it could be worse."

Anyone with information about the incident can call the Baltimore County Police Department at 410-887-2361.

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