Downtown robberies spike police interest

In the early-morning hours of July 17, a student was reportedly robbed on the sidewalk in front of the Old Court House, near Bell Hall. GCSU students received an e-mail July 31, which gave a short description of the incident. The e-mail explained that over the summer there were two confirmed, and one unconfirmed, cases of robberies in the downtown Milledgeville area at night.

“In each case a GCSU student and/or out-of-town college-aged individuals were approached around the closing time of downtown Milledgeville clubs, and their money, wallets, and purses were demanded,” the e-mail stated. “In one of the incidents, the victim was struck in the back of the head and their cell phone was stolen.”

Sgt. Michael Baker, of the GCSU Public Safety Department, is heading the investigation of the incidents.

The latest incident “involved a student who was on his way back to his house when he was blindly struck in the back of the head.” Baker said. “It knocked him down and he dropped his cell phone.”

Public Safety does not have a clear description of the suspects, however the student whose cell phone was stolen said one of them was a black male in his late teens. Baker said he was able to corroborate this information with a video recording and a taxicab driver’s account of the aftermath of the crime. A description of the suspects has been given to police who patrol the area.

The description is similar to one from an incident in May in which a female student was robbed, as well as a previously unreported account of two students from another university being robbed.

Baker said he hopes the people involved in the unreported incident will come forward with any information they may have. He suggested that the victims might be holding back information because they may have been drinking underage that night. If that was the case, Baker insisted they would not be prosecuted.

Public Safety hopes that disclosing this information will encourage students to be aware while they are downtown. According to the department, the robberies seem to be happening on Thursday nights on into Friday mornings, with apparently intoxicated persons walking on their own being targeted.

“Apparently these guys are just hanging on these deserted, dark sidewalks,” Baker said. “They’re not going into the bars or other establishments. They’re just loitering around. They seem to be working in pairs.”

Baker offers some general advice to students who are out late at night.

“You should be very aware of your surroundings,” he said. “Public Safety can’t be everywhere, so we have to depend on everyone else to do their part. Keep a watchful eye, and call us if something seems suspicious.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Aug 7 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry