Students robbed off East Campus

Two seniors were robbed at gunpoint early Tuesday morning near East Campus.

The two students, a male and a female, were sitting in a parked car in the 1200 block of West Markham Avenue around 1:15 a.m. when two men approached the passenger side of the vehicle, Public Information Officer Kammie Michael of the Durham Police Department wrote in an e-mail.

One of the men pointed a gun and demanded money and car keys from the students, who were returning to their off-campus residence.

Michael said the suspects took an undisclosed sum of money but did not acquire the car keys because the robbery was interrupted when another vehicle turned on to West Markham Avenue.  No one was injured in the incident.

Michael described the suspects as black males of medium build in their early 20s, weighing between 140 and 150 pounds. One suspect was wearing dark jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt and the other was wearing dark jeans and a gray sweatshirt, Michael said.

Sue Wasiolek, dean of students and assistant vice president for student affairs, said both students are doing fine and that the number of police patrols in the area has been increased. Students were informed of the incident in an e-mail sent by Wasiolek around 8 a.m. Tuesday.

This is the second armed robbery of a student near East Campus since students returned to classes this Fall.

A student was robbed at gunpoint Sept. 22 near the East Campus bridge. Two students were robbed at gunpoint in the area during the summer.