University-affiliated individuals were threatened with the display of a gun in two separate incidents last week.
The first incident occurred outside Java&s coffeehouse at midnight Wednesday, March 14. Two UR staff members were talking in front of their car, parked on Gibbs Street, when they saw a person who was &extremely excited& coming from behind the coffeehouse, Senior Investigator Dan Lafferty said.
The staff members got into their car and the individual passed them and got into the passenger side of the car parked behind them.
The suspect&s car then pulled up next to the victims& car. The suspect pointed what the victims described as a &handgun& at the staff members for several seconds. The suspect&s car then merely drove away. No shots were fired and no words were exchanged. No one was injured in the course of the incident.
The victims notified UR Security and the Rochester Police Department. This case is currently under investigation.
Lafferty encourages anyone who was in the area at the time and has information concerning the incident to contact investigators at x35021.
The second incident occurred as a visiting professor was walking to his home in the 19th Ward from the River Campus at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 16.
As the professor was walking south along Genesee Street, he noticed someone following him. The person was still behind him as he turned onto Congress Street, at which point the suspect approached him and demanded his money, Lafferty said.
The victim reported to Security that the suspect had his hand inside his coat to demonstrate that he had a gun, but that he did not threaten to use it.
The victim began yelling for the suspect to stay away from him and ran down the street.
The suspect pursued him for only a short distance then went away, said Lafferty. The victim ran to his residence and notified RPD.
Pizza delivery car &borrowed&
A pizza delivery person reported to Security that someone briefly stole his car while it was parked outside Tiernan Hall at 10:15 p.m. Saturday, March 17.
While he was parking his car, someone slipped and fell in front of the car. He helped the person up and continued on his way.
However, when he looked back, he saw that the person had jumped into the delivery car, which had been left running, and was driving away.
The delivery person notified security and RPD, Lafferty said.
The car was found minutes later parked behind Todd Union.
Nothing was missing from the vehicle and, other than a flat tire, there was no damage to the car.
Car stereos stolen from Goler Lot
A graduate and a medical student both reported to Security that their car stereos had been stolen from their cars parked in the lot near Goler House between Tuesday, March 13 and Saturday, March 17.
In both incidents, a car window was broken to allow access to the stereo.
The estimated damage and property value is $540 for one car and $400 for the other according to security reports.
Both victims plan to file reports with RPD at a later date.
