Two local robberies occur

Police responded to two gunpoint robberies on campus within 23 minutes of each other Monday night, University Police Lieutenant Susan Holmes said yesterday. The first robbery occurred at 11:28 p.m. on the 100 block of South 34th Street. Police said a woman who had been walking along the street was robbed at simulated gunpoint by two men in a red hatchback. The men stole a pocketbook containing $3 in cash and various other items. The woman was not injured during the robbery. The woman described the passenger of the hatchback, who was responsible for the actual robbery and the gun simulation, as an 18 to 20 year old man, 5'10" to 5'11" feet tall, who wore a leather jacket with an "eight-ball" depicted on the back. The woman could not describe the driver. Police have made no arrests in connection with the incident. The second robbery occurred at 11:51 p.m. inside the Allegro's Pizza restaurant at 3942 Spruce Street. University Police said an off-duty Philadelphia Police officer saw one man snatch a gold chain off the neck of another man while simulating a gun. The officer apprehended the robber, and was assisted in this effort by University Police officers. University Police transported the robber to the offices of the 18th District of the Philadelphia Police Department. In an unrelated incident 22 minutes later, a woman injured a female University student in an attempt to rob her at 36th and Sansom streets. Holmes said the would-be robber approached the student at 12:15 a.m. yesterday and tried to grab the latter's pocketbook. The student resisted, and her assailant hit her in the face with a hard object. The perpetrator escaped in a small blue car, driving west on Walnut Street from 36th Street. The student was treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently released. The student described her would-be robber as a 20-year-old woman of thin build approximately 5'6" tall who wore a striped sweater. In another separate incident, University Police arrested a man suspected of robbing a University student on January 29. The student spotted his one-time robber in the vicinity of 36th and Chestnut streets at 11:55 p.m. Monday night. Police arrested the man, who was positively identified by the student. The man is wanted by Philadelphia Police for disorderly conduct and University Police issued the man a new court notice. University Police then released the man, advising the student that the alleged robber can not be arraigned unless police have a warrant for doing so. In another unrelated incident, Philadelphia Fire Rescue officers took a student who had fainted in McClelland Hall to the HUP emergency room at 6:31 p.m. Monday. The student apparently had not eaten for several days.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.