Crime & Safety
Student Screams as Robbers Wrench Away Backpack – 2 Suspects Caught, 2 at Large
A female summer student walking with a male student on the east side of the UC Berkeley campus Tuesday night when three robbers pulled her backpack off her and fled, UC police said. Two suspects were arrested and two are being sought.
Three robbers grabbed the backpack off of a female summer student Tuesday night as she walked with a male summer student on Gayley Road near the Haas School of Business, UC police said.
The female student screamed, which alerted a UC Berkeley Security Patrol Officer at the Haas School, police said in a release today, Friday. The Security Patrol Officer saw the three suspects running, talked to the victims and relayed a description of the vehicle in which the suspects fled to UC police via radio.
The vehicle description was relayed also to Berkeley police, who spotted it on University Avenue near Interstate 80, police said.. The vehicle refused to stop and fled into Oakland, where it stopped.
Two suspects were arrested – an 18-year-old who was driving the vehicle and a 17-year-old – and police are still seeking two other suspects, according to UC police.
"The victim's backpack was recovered, along with property belonging to other victims," police said. "A firearm was also recovered."
UC Berkeley police detectives "are linking the suspects to armed robberies in Oakland and Berkeley," police said.
The two students were walking along Gayley at 11:45 p.m. when three male suspects approached them, police said.
One suspect "forcefully grabbed and removed the female's backpack," police said. "The female screamed."
Another suspect tried to take the male's backpack but was unsuccessful, police said.
The three suspects fled to a waiting green 1994 Ford Explorer and left, police said. The victims were not injured.
Anyone with information about the crime is urged to call the UC Berkeley Police Criminal Investigation Bureau at (510) 642-0472 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., or the main police number, (510) 642-6760, at other times.
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