On the night of Feb. 13, a male student reported that as he was walking to his car, two unidentified male subjects approached and assaulted him, using a knife as a weapon to demand that he hand over his watch, wallet and cellphone. The victim reported the incident occurred along the inner loops of the university, near the administration garage. After the crime occurred, the UMBC Police Department reported that the two suspects then took off toward the Commons Garage.
Members of the UMBC community also received word of the incident through the following message sent at 10:26 PM that same night: “An armed robbery has just taken place near smoking shelter on Park Road by two subjects, suspects are still at large, stay alert.”
Currently, according to the police alert, the perpetrators are described as being “African-American, 21 to 25 years … One was described as 6’0 tall with a deep voice and the other as 5’8.” Furthermore, both were noted to have worn black hoodies the night of the theft. Paul Dillon, the chief of police for UMBC, mentioned that there have been “no updates on the subjects being caught, nor do we have any idea if the subjects were related to the university or not.”
Bethel Beyene, a freshman studying Biological Sciences, expressed alarm at the robbery. “I honestly feel really shocked and sad that this event occurred and I’m learning that it might be best to walk at night with a group.” One person who wished to remain anonymous stated about the situation, “If it was me getting robbed, I would have knocked those kids out. Take the law into your hands.”
The police alert on myUMBC encourages those with any information about this incident that took place to call the UMBC police to give any updates that could lead to the solving this case. While Chief Dillon mentions that incidents such as these are not common on campus, he advises people to walk with a group of friends at night. He also recommends the use of UMBC’s escort service, which provides an officer or student worker to walk with someone to their destination across campus.
