A Northwestern student was robbed Tuesday in an alley west of campus, police said.
It was the fourth reported street crime against a Northwestern student in Evanston in the past two weeks.
According to an Evanston Police Department report, the 19-year-old Weinberg student gave the following version of events:
He was walking southbound in the alley between Pratt Court and Maple Avenue, just north of Foster Street, at about 7 p.m. when a man approached him. The man was 25 to 30 years old and was wearing a shiny black leather coat and a black baseball cap that had the letter “A” on it.
The suspect asked the student for a light, and the victim told him that he did not smoke and did not have a lighter. A second suspect then grabbed the student’s arms from behind, while the man in front punched the student twice in the stomach.
The man in front asked the student if he had any money, while the person standing behind the victim removed his wallet from his back pants pocket, took out $40 to $60 and then threw the wallet on the ground, police reports said.
The front suspect then pushed the student down, and both suspects fled north toward Simpson Street.
The student never saw the person who held him from behind. He did not see a weapon on the front suspect and he declined medical attention, according to the report.
Deputy Chief Joseph Bellino of EPD said that despite the recent wave of attacks, there was no indication criminals were going specifically after students.
“These are random acts of violence, perpetrated on citizens walking down the street,” Bellino said. “The fact the victims are Northwestern students isn’t the driving force of why they were targeted.”
Tuesday’s incident happened earlier in the day than any of the other crimes against students this school year.
As of this time last year, only two Northwestern students had been victimized while walking on the street. In one of the incidents last year, the student fought back against his would-be robber.
“In the past, a lot of these robberies have taken place later in the evening, but it’s also getting darker earlier,” Bellino said. “There are more hours for people to work under the cover of darkness than there were before.”
Andrew Linnehan, Medill ’05, whose Maple Avenue home backs up to the alley where the robbery occurred, said the area has gotten safer since Cafe Mud, 1936 Maple Ave., opened last year.
“A lot of people hang out here,” Linnehan said. “It’s more built-up and secure than it would have been a year-and-a-half ago.”
Linnehan said at night alleys are still dangerous.
“Sometimes security is kind of up to the individual,” he said. “Cops can patrol all they want, but if you go to dark places in night time, something may happen.”
A friend who answered the victim’s cell phone Wednesday evening said the victim declined to comment.
