NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—City police are investigating a string of armed robberies targeting Rutgers students near the school’s campuses in the city, including two involving a handgun and one involving a BB gun.
The incidents come just two weeks after Halloween weekend, when three young men, including two students, were injured in a gruesome knifefight inside a Rutgers dormitory, and another student reported being robbed on-campus and threatened with a “sharp object.”
The latest incidents are the ninth, tenth, and eleventh crimes to result in university-wide “crime alerts” this semester. Five of the incidents to generate crime alerts since September were armed robberies.
The university has repeatedly broken its promise to publicly reveal whenever it learns of a “serious crime” involving a student. As we reported, the university did not issue an alert after an armed robbery where police quickly arrested seven suspects in September.
The new string of robberies is just the latest black eye for the university that has already had to endure negative crime-related headlines ever since several current and former football players were arrested and charged with violent crimes.
The first robbery in the recent string was reported on November 14 at approximately 1:20 AM in the area of Nichol Avenue and Suydam Street.
“In this incident the victim… reported that he was approached by two perpetrators, one of whom brandished a BB gun and demanded items of value,” reads the Rutgers crime alert issued the following day.
The perps fled the area in a “gold colored sedan” according to police radio transmissions.
In the crime alert, both suspects were described as “males wearing dark hoodies with dark pants with one having a white bandana around his neck and his hair in a ponytail.”
Five days later, and two blocks away, another robbery was reported at approximatley 10:55 PM on Wednesday, November 18.
In the area of Nichol Avenue and Handy Street, another person affiliated with the university was approached by three men,” one of whom displayed a handgun and demanded items of value.”
The suspects then fled the area on foot towards Jones Avenue, according to the crime alert. The victim was found near Baldwin Street according to police radio transmissions.
In this incident, the perpetrators were described as, “one male wearing a black jacket with red accents, the second male 5’7” inches tall with dread locks wearing an orange jacket, and the third male wearing all black clothing.”
But just a few hours later another Rutgers-affiliated person was victimized, at approximately 2:25 AM on Senior Street between Wyckoff Street and Easton Avenue.
The victim told authorities he had been approached by two men, “one of whom displayed a handgun and demanded items of value.”
The perpetrators in the third incident were described as “two males, 5’8” to5’10” in height and wearing black hoodie jackets.”
It’s not clear whether any of the suspects are in common between the incidents, which each garnered separate crime alerts from the Rutgers University Police Department (RUPD).
However, it is the New Brunswick Police Department (NBPD) that is actively investigating all three incidents.
The NBPD asks that anyone with information, or who may have been in the area at the time, contact their 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.
