ASU Police are asking the public for assistance in catching a group of men believed to be involved in two robberies this week in which iPhones were snatched out of the hands of people on the Tempe campus.
Multiple suspects were involved in the incidents that occurred Monday and Wednesday, ASU Police Cmdr. Jim Hardina said.
According to an ASU Police Crime Alert, the suspects are described as black men, about 6 feet tall, between the ages of 18 and 22, and weighing between 160 and 200 pounds.
Both incidents took place at the Schwada building off Orange and McAllister Malls, Hardina said. No one was harmed.
“It’s kind of unique that they’re stealing just iPhones and that they don’t use any threat of force or any weapons,” Hardina said. “They just come up behind the person or walk up next to them and take the phone right out of the their hand, which is unusual.”
The first incident happened Monday at around 8:50 p.m. when three men came up to three women inside the Schwada building and took an iPhone from one of the women, according to a crime alert. The men also tried to take a laptop from another one of the females but they were unsuccessful.
The women witnessed the men run out of the building and enter a silver or light colored, 4-door sedan, which was waiting for them and driven by a black female, according to the alert.
On Wednesday at about 8 p.m., a man was on the sidewalk outside the Schwada building when two men ran up and grabbed an iPhone from the man’s hand, according to a crime alert.
The man saw the two men run to the Lot 41 parking area and enter a car with the same description from the previous incident, Hardina said.
ASU Police are hoping to gather footage from security cameras in the area, Hardina said, but they are uncertain if the cameras were able to capture the suspects’ faces or a license plate number.
Hardina said there will be extra security around the area, but with the added security it is unlikely the men will strike there again.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean (that) … if it happens again, it’s going to happen at the same place,” Hardina said. “It could be at a different building.”
Reach the reporter at sraymund@asu.edu
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