Two robbed at gunpoint near U apartment complex; suspects at large

A college student and another person were robbed at gunpoint late at night near the University of Minnesota by two suspects who fled in a car, according to campus police.

The crime occurred shortly before 12:30 a.m. Wednesday near the Como Student Community Cooperative apartment complex at 27th and Talmage Avenues SE., according to a campuswide crime alert from university police.

One of the two victims, 22-year-old Darcy Schaller, is a university student who lives near the crime scene. The other victim is a 24-year-old St. Paul man.

There were two suspects who carried out the robbery and a third who drove them away in a car waiting nearby, police added.

"They approached us with a silver gun, and one said something along the lines of 'this is what we're gonna need you to do,' " Schaller said Thursday evening.

Campus police offered no further insight about the perpetrators, explaining that "detailed suspect descriptions are not available at this time."

The university said recently that it is raising the bar on the specificity needed before suspect descriptions would be released to the public. The change in policy about two months ago followed criticism that authorities sometimes release racial descriptions and little other concrete information about at-large suspects.

The victims were talking outside one of their vehicles when two suspects approached, threatened them with a gun, and demanded their valuables.

The suspects took the victims' wallet, cellphone and purse. The phone was later recovered after the suspects threw it into a nearby yard. Neither victim was injured.

The suspects fled to a car waiting on Talmage with a third suspect behind the wheel. The car fled west on Como Avenue.

The 24-year-old victim, Rob Cech, said Thursday that the suspects were both men. "I've heard hopeful things from the police" about potential arrests, Cech added.

A resident nearby socializing by a campfire said Thursday he heard a "woman's cry for help" and ran to the scene. He said he saw the suspects' car pulling away with the back passenger-side door open, and one of the men jumped in the back seat.

Because the crime occurred off-campus, Minneapolis police are investigating. Anyone with information is asked to call Minneapolis police at 612-692-8477.