Eve Taft, Web and Social Media Editor

A student resident of Anderson Hall was robbed in their dorm room during the evening of April 9. The student had been attempting to sell clothing online. The buyers, two males, met the student outside Anderson, and the student brought them through the fob-activated entrance and up to the student’s room.

According to the A-mail, once the student showed the suspects the clothing item, they hit the student in the head and pulled a handgun on them.

The suspects then took the clothing and left Anderson through the north entrance and fled north onto 21st in a dark-colored four-door sedan.

According to Scott Brownell, director of public safety, the student was alone in their dorm room. Brownell also said that DPS did not believe anything but the clothing was taken.

Brownell said that DPS has “reason to believe” the student “knew one or maybe two of the people involved … it might not have been inviting a total stranger in, but not some one they were actually friends with … someone they had at least a slight knowledge of.”

There was a gap between the incident, which happened on the April 9, and when it was reported by the victim on the April 11.

DPS posted the incident in A-mail and has issued a Timely Notice.

Brownell said that he would not be grouping this incident with the armed robberies outside Lindell Library and Anderson Hall earlier in the year, saying it had “different criteria and issues.” He noted that the armed robberies involved people from outside the Augsburg community coming onto campus, and he added that they may not have had the intent to commit a robbery until they saw an opportunity. The robbery that occurred inside Anderson involved people who planned to come to campus and were brought inside a building by someone who had “potential knowledge” of them.

Brownell also stressed that the two armed robberies were not connected.

When asked about the mailroom robbery, Brownell said it would be classified as a burglary rather than a robbery because no one was physically present during the theft.

While Brownell does not believe any of the incidents to be connected, he acknowledged that “we’ve had different experiences this year that may be a little out-of-the-ordinary from what we’ve seen in the past.”

Brownell advised students who are selling items online to meet in a public place during the day when people are around. He suggested Einstein’s as a good on-campus location. He also advised bringing a friend to any potential sales.

This article first appeared in the Friday, April 20 edition of The Echo.