NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Both city police and Rutgers police are investigating an armed robbery that occurred on December 13 at Park Deli Too, a store located in the same building as the Rutgers University Police Department (RUPD).

It’s the eighteenth incident to lead to a campuswide crime alert this semester, and the fifth robbery in four days to do so. 

The scene of the latest robbery was 53 Commercial Avenue, the site of a popular deli and convenience store at the corner with Neilsen Street.  The building is also home to the offices for Rutgers Administration and Public Safety (APS).

The RUPD crime alert said the robbery occurred at 7:55pm, but it actually occurred an hour earlier, according to police radio transmissions.

New Brunswick Today first reported the incident at 7:15pm on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

“In this incident two perpetrators entered the store and demanded money from the store employee after displaying a handgun and a knife,” reads the crime alert.

“Both perpetrators immediately fled the store when a customer entered the store during the course of the robbery.”

No arrests were made, despite the proximity to the police station, and the fact that multiple New Brunswick Police Department (NBPD) were already in the area for an unfounded report of a shooting.

“A caller inside… said someone is being robbed at knifepoint and ran towards Route 18,” said a dispatcher at 6:56pm.

Officers responding learned at first that two Hispanic men “wearing all black,” and then fled the area towards George Street, traversing right past the RUPD station.

However, the crime alert described the suspects as “one male wearing a black jacket, gray hoodie covering his face, blue jeans, black gloves, and black sneakers,” and “one male wearing a puffy red jacket, black face mask, blue jeans, gray hat, black gloves, and white sneakers.”

Both the NBPD and the RUPD are actively investigating this incident and ask that anyone with information, or who may have been in the area at the time, contact NBPD’s Detective Bureau at 732-745-5217 or the Rutgers Police Department Detective Bureau at 848-932-8025.

Editor at New Brunswick Today | 732-993-9697 | editor@newbrunswicktoday.com | Website

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.

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.