NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Three men forced their way into a Prosper Street residence on the night of April 26, bringing with them a firearm and a baseball bat, after the front door was opened in response to a knock at the door, according to a Rutgers University crime alert.
The incident occurred at approximately 11:29 PM, just two blocks away from the main campus of Rutgers.
The robbers allegedly demanded “items of value including marijuana” from the residents of the house, and removed cash and marijuana from the residence before fleeing the scene, according to the alert.
It marked the 20th incident to generate a Rutgers crime alert this semester. All but one of the incidents so far have been in New Brunswick. Â By far, robberies were the number one crime that genreated alerts, with at least six home invasions, and fourteen robberies in total.
Previous alerts this semester have also come in response to two shootings, including one with a pellet gun, a stabbing, and three cases of “criminal sexual contact.”
As New Brunswick Today has reported, there have been additional stabbings, and a series of pellet gun shootings near the Rutgers University campus that did not generate crime alerts.
“The decision to issue a crime alert is based on several factors including the type of crime, where it occurred, whether there is an on-going risk to the campus community and if there is a potential for compromising the investigation of the incident,” said university spokesperson EJ Miranda.
The RUPD announcement of the Prosper Street home invasion was also paired with the nineteenth incident deemed worthy of an alert, which occurred one day earlier.
In that incident, a man required hospitalization after being punched in a streetfight near the instection of Delafield and Courtland Streets.
In that incident, Â officers were first dispatched to a “large party” with “people spilling out into the street” at approximately 7:30 PM, according to police radio transmissions. Â Police said they broke up the party.
A Rutgers student and his friends “engaged in a verbal altercation with a group of fifteen males who were walking,” according to the crime alert. Â In the ensuing fracas, the victim was punched and “required treatment at a local hospital.”
Officers discovered the victim just as they were writing a summons for the resident or residents who hosted the party.
“The descriptions of the perpetrators for both incidents are limited at this time,” reads the alert.
The New Brunswick Police Department is actively investigating these incidents and asks that anyone with information, or who may have been in the area at the time, contact the New Brunswick Police Department Detective Bureau at 732-745-5217.
Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.
