Students robbed at gunpoint

A man with a gun followed two students into their house at 40th and Baltimore last night. Armed with an automatic weapon, a man followed two University students into their house at 4015 Baltimore Street last night, robbing them of $53 and a PennCard. Five of their roommates were home during the robbery, but none of them realized what was happening until afterwards. According to College sophomore Chris Page, he and College sophomore Lindsay Fletcher biked home from Van Pelt Library at around 10:30 p.m. Page opened the front door to their house and held it, while he and Fletcher put their bikes in a storage room immediately to the left of the door. The suspect walked through the front door, pushed Page into the darkened storage room with Fletcher, and pulled out a black handgun. He threatened to shoot the two students if they did not turn over their money to him. Page gave him $50, and Fletcher gave him the $3 she had on her, Page said. The suspect then demanded Page's PennCard and took it before leaving. "He said the reason he took my PennCard was so if the police came looking for him, he could find me and kill me," Page said. Before he and Fletcher went inside, Page had looked out at the snow falling on Baltimore Street, but didn't see anyone until the robber came in after him. The suspect had his hood wrapped around his face and was soaked from the snow, preventing the victims from getting a good look at him during the incident. College sophomore Tracy Tripp, who also lives in the house, was sitting in the first-floor kitchen during the robbery. She said she heard Fletcher saying something, but didn't realize until later that she had been talking to the robber. The victims' four other housemates -- including 34th Street Editor-in-Chief Doree Shafrir, a College sophomore -- were also home, but heard nothing. "No one had any idea," Tripp said, adding that Shafrir had just learned of the robbery at 11:05 p.m. and that a seventh housemate who was not home was still unaware. "I'm going to be nervous coming home," Page said. "But there's not much I can do. I am surprised he came into my house, though." University Police Sgt. Thomas Rambo said officers from Penn and the Philadelphia Police Department's 18th District are investigating the crime.

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