Campus, City, News

Armed robbery of BU students in Brookline, second time in past week

Three Boston University students were robbed at gunpoint in Brookline at about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, officials said.

The victims were robbed of a black backpack after suspects approached the students in the area of Egmont Street and St. Paul Street and revealed a gun, said BU Police Department dispatcher Melody Zarth. The suspects eventually fled toward Commonwealth Avenue, according to a BU Emergency Alert issued to students Tuesday night.

BUPD confirmed there were no injuries.

Zarth said BUPD and Brookline Police are investigating the incident.

“We are adding additional patrols in the area,” she said.

The suspects were described as three black males in their late teens to early 20s, she said.

One suspect wore a blue sweatshirt, and the other one wore a red sweatshirt, according to the alert.

This is the second armed robbery in Brookline in the past week. Two BU students were robbed near Thorndike Street at about 3 a.m. on Sunday.

The suspects allegedly demanded that the victims empty their pockets and showed them a black semiautomatic handgun, according to a report from the Brookline Police Department.

The victims gave them $50 in cash, an iPhone, an Android cell phone and one wallet, according to the report. The investigation is still ongoing.

The victims, one male and female student, were not injured.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said that if there is any assistance BUPD can provide, they are willing to offer it.

“This is an extremely unusual incident — roughly around five in the evening, a beautiful day, in a very safe community,” Riley said. “So this is very unusual, and again on the heels of one that happened over the weekend, it’s very concerning.”

Riley said students need to be alert at all times and travel in company.

College of Communication junior Allie Kolb lives in Allston, about a block away from Thorndike Street. She said the two incidents do not change her opinion of the area, but do make her more aware of her surroundings.

“I just think it’s part of the package when you move into a major city, and it especially makes me cautious,” she said. “But one of them happened at 5 p.m. when I personally wouldn’t think to be as suspicious.”

Kolb said that even as she took a five-minute walk from her friend’s apartment Tuesday night she felt a bit more uneasy than she used to feel.

“It felt a little more dangerous than it may have earlier in the year,” she said.

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