Fordham students were involved in an attempted robbery and a robbery near the Rose Hill campus on Oct. 23, bringing the number of robbery-related incidents involving Fordham students this weekend up to four.

The attempted robbery occurred on Hoffman Street at 7:05 p.m. The student was walking westbound on the south side of East 189 Street between Arthur Avenue and Hoffman Street when he noticed a man following him from behind, according to Fordham Public Safety.

When the student reached the corner of East 189 Street and Hoffman Street, the man “reached under his jacket to simulate a gun and said, ‘Why are you fronting my man? Give me all your money,’” according to the Public Safety Alert issued regarding the incident.

The student was not injured, did not give up any property and fled back toward Arthur Avenue. The suspect fled southbound on Hoffman Street toward East 189 Street with another male, with whom he had been standing in front of the Blue Goose Bar.

The student described the assailant as “a Black male, 6’2” tall and 150 pounds, in his twenties, wearing orange and purple basketball jersey and a black zippered jacket,” according to the Public Safety Alert.

Following the incident, Public Safety and NYPD officers canvassed the area without results.

The second robbery occurred two hours later at 9:24 p.m. on East 188 Street. In this instance, two Fordham students were walking westbound on the north side of East 188 Street between Hoffman Street and Lorillard Place when they were followed by two males, according the the Public Safety Alert.

The two males accosted the students when they reached the northeast corner of East 188 Street and Lorillard Place. Similar to the attempted robbery, one of the assailants reached into the waist pocket of his hooded sweatshirt to simulate a gun and said “Give us everything you have,” according to the Public Safety Alert. They took the wallet and cellphone of one of the students and fled back up East 189 Street toward Hoffman Street. Neither of the students was injured.

The students described the main assailant as “a Black male, 6’2” tall and 160 pounds, in his twenties, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with pockets in front, black ski mask, and reddish basketball jersey,” according to the Public Safety Alert.

Following the incidents, “Both Fordham Public Safety and the NYPD are putting additional resources out in the community,” according to the alert.  In the alert, Fordham Public Safety encouraged anyone with information regarding these incidents to “contact the 48th Precinct detective squad at (718) 288-4119, or Fordham University Public Safety, at (718) 817-2222, and ask to speak with a duty supervisor.”

These incidents were preceded by the robbery of a Fordham student at 3:45 a.m. on Oct. 23. This robbery, similar to the attempted robbery, occurred on the northeast corner of Hoffman Street and East 189 Street across from the Blue Goose Bar. The student was approached by a group of males, one of which struck him on the side of the head, knocking him to the ground, according to the Public Safety Alert issued at the time. The assailants took the student’s iPhone and his wallet, which contained $60.

Less than 24 hours before that incident, a student and an alumnus were robbed at 1 p.m. on Oct. 22. The robber occurred on Belmont Avenue near East Fordham Road when a man approached the two men and indicated that he had a gun. The suspect took the alumnus’s iPhone and $40 and proceeded south on Belmont Avenue. The two men described the suspect as “5’11” tall, medium build, light skinned, wearing a black ski hat and an olive colored sweat jacket,” according to the Public Safety Alert released regarding the incident.

Fordham students were robbed on Hoffman Street and 189 Street earlier this year on two separate occasions. At 2:30 a.m. on March 9, a male Fordham student was robbed by three males on Hoffman Street between East 189th Street and East Fordham Road and at 1:30 a.m. on April 23, a female Fordham student was robbed on Hoffman Street when a man grabbed her phone from under her right arm and fled south toward East 189th Street.

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