The Rochester Police Department and UR Security apprehended a 16-year-old Rochester resident for his involvement in an attempted robbery and at least two burglaries on the River Campus early on the morning of Jan. 31.
“I was pretty scared,” Freshman Brian Hanson,who was the victim, said. “He probably said ‘give me your wallet’ about 10 times before I responded.”
The attempted robbery occurred at about 8 p.m. as Hanson was walking between Rush Rhees Library and Fredrick Douglass Building.
The suspect approached Hanson, displayed what appeared to be a handgun and demanded the student’s wallet.
After dropping his wallet to the ground, Hanson saw that the weapon was not real so, he retrieved his wallet and walked away.
“I only had 10 bucks in my wallet,” Hanson said. “It was probably stupid of me [to pick the wallet back up], but I was going on a hunch. My advice to other people, if this happens to you, is just do what the guy is telling you to. It’s not worth risking anything.”
After arriving at a friend’s room in Hill Court, the student called UR Security, who searched the area but could not locate the suspect.
At about 5:40 a.m., building service workers discovered an unidentified male sleeping in a Warner School mail room in Dewey Hall.
The male fled the area with a mailbag and staff called Security immediately. Responding officers checked the area.
UR Security surveyed campus grounds with closed-circuit television cameras.
At 6:13 a.m., the suspect was observed on security cameras pushing a food cart down Faculty Road loaded with what was later found to be stolen UR property.
As officers approached the suspect, he left the items and fled from campus on foot via the pedestrian bridge.
While crossing the bridge, the suspect discarded a weapon which was later recovered and found to be a functional CO2 type pellet pistol.
An area near Barton Street was cordoned off and the suspect was found hiding under a track and taken into custody.
Further investigation revealed that several offices in Dewey Hall were forcibly entered into where a computer and other items were taken.
An area of Douglass Dining Center, a cash register was damaged and miscellaneous items were taken.
The forced-entry burglaries in Dewey Hall and Douglass occurred between 5 p.m. Sunday and 5:40 a.m. Monday.
“I think UR Security did a good job catching this guy,” freshman Kristina Doot said. “This really makes me feel safer on campus.”
As of Tuesday morning, the suspect is still in police custody on multiple felony charges.
Paret can be reached at eparet@campustimes.org.
