A Washington University student was robbed on Pershing Avenue early in the morning on Sept. 29. (Elle Su｜Student Life)

A Washington University student was robbed of his wallet and phone in an alleyway on Pershing Avenue, Sept. 29. The incident was the first reported robbery involving a WashU student since 2021, according to the WashU Police Department (WUPD). 

In a security memo sent out to the campus community, WUPD reported that at 5:20 A.M., a student was approached by a man who demanded his wallet and phone and pushed a hard rounded item into his side, which the victim believed to be a firearm. There were no reported injuries from the incident, which is currently under investigation by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD).

The suspect was described in the report as a “tall, thin male wearing all black, including a black ski mask.”

Chief of WUPD Angela Coonce said that this incident is unusual for her officers, especially given the time of day it occurred.

“We don’t have a lot of robberies, so this was out of the ordinary from the get-go,” Coonce said. “You see a lot of evening robberies kind of late night or early morning, like after midnight, but this was kind of a different scenario just because of the timing of it.”

Although the robbery took place at 5:20 A.M., WUPD was alerted of the crime by the affected student at 2:57 PM, roughly nine-and-a-half hours later. Coonce said that the delay was due to the personal choice of the student.

“I think being a victim of a crime is obviously a difficult thing for anybody,” Coonce said. “We’re thankful that the student did end up calling us even though there was a delay in reporting.” 

As a result of the crime, WUPD is increasing their security patrols around the Pershing area and monitoring areas where resources are needed.

“We certainly want the visibility of our officers to try to deter this from happening again,” Coonce said. 

According to the crime statistics publicly available on WUPD’s website, there were zero robberies on or off campus during the 2022 calendar year. During the 2021 calendar year, there were two robberies, both of which occurred on campus. In the 2020 calendar year, there were four robberies, one on campus and three off campus. 

Coonce explained that a robbery differs from theft because there is a person present who is being stolen from, as opposed to leaving something unattended and it getting taken. 

“If they come up and just threaten you in some manner whether that be physical threat or a firearm or [the threat of] a firearm, then that would be robbery because it’s a person-on-person crime,” Coonce said. 

Coonce said that it was great that there were no robberies last calendar year, given that WashU is in an urban environment and there are many students walking to and from campus every day. 

“Not having any [robberies] is always our goal,” Coonce said. “We’re at one this year and we’re going to do everything we can to keep it at that number.”

Junior Ben Malin, who moved to Pershing Avenue at the beginning of his sophomore year, said that he was aware of crime in the area before but did not hear about much occurring last year. 

“I was a little surprised,” Malin said. “To be honest, I was already kind of preconditioned because [my] freshman year we were getting a lot of emails about robberies and carjackings on the same block so I assumed that would happen last year, but it kind of died down.”

Malin said that the incident reminded him and others of the importance of being alert. 

“I think [I’m just] being more aware,” Malin said. “I’ve met some people who are more worried, mostly my roommates have similar mentalities to me which is like, lock your doors and be smart with your surroundings.”

Senior Kelsey Kloezeman, who moved into an apartment on the 6000 block of Pershing in August, said that she will be making sure to walk in well-lit areas in the future. 

“I have a friend on Waterman which is directly across the block,” Kloezeman said, “And sometimes we’ll take an alley as a shortcut, so I’m definitely not doing that at night again. I thought maybe it was okay in this neighborhood, but I won’t be doing that anymore.”

WUPD has not received any updates from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police and does not believe that a suspect has been identified in the investigation.