A student was robbed at gunpoint near the intersection of Rosedale Avenue and Waterman Boulevard. (Aliana Mediratta | Student Life)

A Washington University student was the victim of a robbery when they were approached by an unknown man with a handgun near the intersection of Rosedale Avenue and Waterman Boulevard at 9:10 p.m. on March 30. 

The Washington University Police Department (WUPD) sent a security memo out on March 31 to inform the WashU community of the incident, noting that the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) is investigating the robbery. 

Juniors Antoinette Manteau and Kira Jones heard parts of the robbery’s aftermath from their apartment on Waterman, which overlooks the intersection where it took place. 

Jones said that she was in the living room watching television with the windows closed when the robbery occurred, and she paused it and opened the windows when she heard the victim screaming.

“It got to where I could see the person walking across the street,” Jones said. “I was debating if we should go down and see if they were ok or not, but then we saw them walk up to their friend’s apartment.”

She said that she saw the victim talking on the phone, and that about 10 minutes later, the SLMPD showed up. 

Jones has been living on Waterman since this past June, and said that about a month after she moved in, her car was one of 11 on the street that were broken into. Before this incident, she said that car break-ins were the extent of her worries.

“In my mind, it was always little things like that,” Jones said. “I didn’t think anyone would ever target a person.

While both Jones and Manteau said they were aware of basic safety precautions for walking alone at night, they said that being robbed while walking is now a bigger concern for them. 

“There have been so many other incidents recently, with the grad student [Amarnath Ghosh] and everything else,” Jones said. “It’s just kind of insane. I don’t feel more scared, I just feel like I’m more actively conscious of it, but the fear was kind of always there.”

Just over a month before the robbery, MFA student Amarnath Ghosh was shot and killed on the Delmar Loop, near the Third Degree Glass Factory. 

This security memo marks the fourth one that WUPD has sent to the WashU community this academic year, including property damage at Shepley House, an aggravated assault near campus, and a robbery on Pershing Avenue, in which the victim said the robber might have used a gun.

WUPD Chief of Police Angela Coonce said that students should take note of the suggested precautions in the security memo, including information specific to robbery incidents. 

“If you are confronted by a thief, give them what they want and don’t chase them as they leave,” Coonce wrote in an email to Student Life. “Property can always be replaced, your safety is always the most important thing.” 

In response to this incident, Coonce said that WUPD will conduct extra patrols in the area, which will last indefinitely. 

“We are having those officers focus more time in the area where this robbery occurred to increase our visibility,” she wrote. 

Manteau works at the Residential Life Center on the South 40, with shifts that frequently go until midnight. Because of this, she said that she often walks home in the dark. 

“I’ve tried using the Campus2Home shuttle system, and honestly, it sucks,” Manteau said. “There have been so many issues where it actually ends up taking an hour because there are so many people on [the shuttle], and they are dropping people off in the least organized way possible.”

Manteau said that she was inspired to do further research on how to protect herself when walking alone at night.

“I had never looked up what to do in a gunpoint robbery before this, but now I know.” she said.