Duke Police release sketch of suspect in armed robbery

Duke University Police Department has released a sketch of a person of interest in last week's armed robbery on Central Campus.

The sketch was released Tuesday afternoon, almost a week after a student reported being stopped at the corner of Anderson and Lewis Streets by a man with a handgun who demanded her purse. He fled the scene in a gray car driven by an unknown person. No injuries were reported in the incident, which occurred just after midnight last Wednesday morning.

"It's really important that we continue to investigate and figure out who this person is," DUPD Chief John Dailey said.

The department is continuing to pursue several leads in the case, Dailey said. Hopefully, the release of the sketch—which has been distributed to local police reports—will aid the investigation, he noted.

DUPD now believes the suspect— who approached the student across the street from Food Factory and the Central Campus field—was about 6'0'' and 270 pounds. His build is described as "not athletic, but not obese," according to a release from DUPD. Original descriptions listed him as 6'4'' and 250 pounds. He is described as having dark hair and being of a "medium complexion," and was wearing a white or gray sweatshirt and dark jeans at the time of the robbery.

The incident resulted in the first DukeAlert of 2015. It was the first armed robbery on Duke's campus in more than a year, Dailey previously told The Chronicle.

Dailey attributed the lack of robberies in the past year to a number of investments the University has made in security measures over the past 18 months—including brighter streetlights and an increase in security staffing, in addition to replacing all locks on Central Campus apartment doors.

Anyone with information about the robbery is encouraged to contact DUPD.