Two violent ambush robberies, one outside a University of Minnesota administration building and the other just off campus, occurred late at night over the weekend and prompted police to issue crime alerts.
A student suffered a chipped tooth in the Friday night attack while having various items stolen by four suspects, campus police said. The other crime, less than 27 hours later and about two-thirds of a mile north, involved one of four perpetrators threatening the victim with a gun, police said.
Three teens under 18 were quickly arrested in the Friday night attack, according to police. Another fled. No arrests have been announced in the later robbery.
Despite the similarities in the two crimes, "preliminary indications make it appear that they were carried out by different suspects," University Deputy Police Chief Chuck Miner said. "The descriptions of the suspects [in the two cases] are a little bit different." Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder also said that the two incidents appear to have been carried out by different people.
According to police:
About 11 p.m. Friday, a student was walking on the Williamson Hall Plaza when four males approached from behind. One struck the student in the face while they demanded his valuables.
The victim gave up his wallet, phone and headphones, and the four suspects fled. The student suffered a chipped tooth in the assault.
Roughly two hours later, university police stopped four juveniles who matched the suspects' descriptions provided by the victim. Three arrests were made, and one suspect fled and remains at large.
