A Georgetown student was robbed at gunpoint at approximately 9:30 p.m. Monday on the 1900 block of 38th street, according to police.
The suspect stole Kathleen Kingsbury’s (SFS ’01) wallet and cell phone and then escaped in a four-door black sedan driven by an accomplice, MPD Lieutenant Brian Bray said.
“[The Police] got there within two minutes of receiving the call, but by that time the suspects were gone,” Bray said. “[Kingsbury] was shaken and couldn’t give us a very accurate description.”
According to Bray, the suspect was described as a black man, between 5’8’’ and 5’10’’ with dreadlocked hair, wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt and a blue jacket.
Kingsbury said her class ended at 9:20 and she was walking home. She said she was talking on her cell phone and just passing T street on 38th Street when she noticed a black car sitting in the middle of the street. Kingsbury said that she did not think anything was unusual because cars often wait in the street for people.
“I was climbing up the steps and someone grabbed my waist,” Kingsbury said. “I kind of thought it was a joke … then I felt something hard hitting me in the back.”
According to Kingsbury the robber said, “I need money, I want money now.” When she told him she had only five dollars he took her wallet and cell phone, jumped in the back seat of the waiting car and drove off towards Reservoir road.
May Vaughan, a resident on the 1900 block of 38th street, said the police knocked on every door on the block Tuesday night to ask if neighbors had heard anything and to warn them about the robbery.
“I think every one of us was shocked, especially when we heard there was a hand gun involved,” Vaughan said. “You don’t like to think someone is sitting there waiting for you to come by.
Bray said the police have a few leads and believe the robber may be a man nicknamed “Big Tony.”
“There was a similar robbery recently with the same [modus operandi],” Bray said. “We’re already working on getting a warrant [for the first robbery] and might be able to get a warrant for this one.”
The police are putting together a photo spread with the suspect and several other similar-looking people, Bray said. “The whole process usually takes about a week. The biggest problem we have is we can’t get a positive ID on these guys.”
Kingsbury said she would participate in any line-up the police arranged. “I definitely saw [the robber’s] face very closely,” Kingsbury said. “I said [to the police] I almost definitely would be able to pick him out.”
After the suspect escaped, he alledgedly called the victim’s father on the cell phone he had stolen. According to Kingsbury, the robber called her father in Massachusetts between 12 and 15 times asking for his daughter’s pin number to her ATM cards. Her father called the police, Kingsbury said.
As a safety precatuion, all students should travel in groups when walking at night, Bray said, “Criminals like this usually isolate their victims … any time students see anybody suspicious just call us and we’ll check them out.”
Bray said he believed students are reluctant to call the police when they see suspicious situations because they think the police will be bothered.
“It’s not bother at all,” Bray said. “It’s how we find out whose working the area.”
The Department of Public Safety recommends that students use the free escort service, but Kingsbury said she never would have thought to use it before 10:00 p.m. and sometimes the wait can be as long as an hour.
“45 minutes to an hour is a long time to wait, especially when it’s already 11:00 [p.m.],” Kingsbury said. “It’s a huge deterrent.”
“It’s easy to tell peple to walk in pairs or to walk in groups,” Jeanne Lord, Director of Off-Campus affairs said, “but who would have that it was neccessary at 9:00 at night?”
Lord said the Office of Student Afffairs in currently in the process of discussing ways to make off-campus living safer. Cameras already monitor Prospect street, and DPS officers patrol off-campus areas, Lord said.
38th street dead-ends at the woods of Glover Park on the 1900 block just passed T street. Residents say the woods make their block a little quiter than most, but can lead to safety concerns.
Vaughan said she could not remember any crimes involving a gun in the area and the last crime she could remember was a robbery next door about five years ago.
