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DU warns community about 6th armed robbery

For the sixth time in about a month, a student from the University of Denver was confronted at gunpoint and robbed.
DU robberies

DENVER - For the sixth time in about a month, a student from the University of Denver was confronted at gunpoint and robbed.

"She saw two guys approaching her. One of those guys pulled out a gun, demanded her wallet and she gave the wallet to them," Will Jones, DU's External Communications Manager, said. "Once they got the wallet, they took off."

Since the beginning of November, students have been robbed in areas surrounding the DU campus and one time on campus in a parking garage.

"We've had six incidents in the past month which is very, very, very out of the ordinary," Jones said. "Historically, we've had 11 (armed robberies) in the past 10 years. So, to have this many happen in such a short amount of time is unprecedented."

Denver police believe that the robbers are the same people hitting the same area over and over again though the description of the suspects are vague. In all of the robberies, the victims were not hurt.

Monday night, a DU student left the light rail station and start walking down High Street when the two men approached her and took her money. This latest incident has caused DU's campus safety to issue an alert telling students and staff to be careful walking around campus and in the adjacent neighborhoods.

"Surprised when I got the email this morning," Inge Schmitz, neighbor said.

Schmitz says she walks her dogs every day and night and has never been concerned about the area.

"I must say, the last years it was very secure here," Schmitz said. "We have a really good campus security."

But, Schmitz says these latest incidents are scary.

"Everybody around here who live in the houses was warned that we don't go out at night," Schmitz said.

Dave Goodhart manages Mustard's Last Stand, a restaurant across the street from DU. He says employees are now leaving together at night.

"It's definitely concerning especially with employees that have to take busses and walk to vehicles at dark," Goodhart said.

University officials advise to not walk alone. If you need an escort, call DU campus safety. If you know anything about this, please call police.

"The only thing we can do is work hard to make sure that our students, faculty, and staff are prepared, that they are alert and that we're doing everything we can with our police presence, with our campus safety presence to make the university as safe a place as possible," Jones said.

(KUSA-TV © 2014 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)

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