Two Saint Louis University students were robbed at gunpoint last
Saturday night in the Loyola parking lot on Laclede Avenue. The
students left campus near the Pasta House Co. around 11 p.m., when
two men followed them west on Laclede, then robbed them in the
parking lot using a revolver, according to Director of Public
Safety Jack Titone.

The men stole two wallets, a cell phone, a credit card and a
student identification card from the students.

According to one of the student’s description of his assailants,
the men match the description of two suspects in a number of
robberies in the Central West End in the last month, Titone
said.

The student’s statement to DPS also said that the two students
initially noticed the men standing near a warehouse on the south
side of Laclede, which is presumably where the assailants first
spotted the students. The second student has yet to submit a
statement to DPS.

“It’s very unusual for young men to be robbed,” Titone said.

He added, though, that in the first six months of this year,
according to the St. Louis Police Department, there were 1,488
robberies in the city and 184 in the ninth district, which runs
from Jefferson Avenue to Kingshighway Boulevard and Washington
Avenue to Highway 44, encompassing SLU’s campus.

Titone recommended that students use DPS’s escort system if they
feel unsafe walking at night. He noted that, on average, DPS
dispatches 35,000 escorts each year.

“Every neighborhood in the country changes at night,” Titone
said. “It’s always better to call an escort.”

DPS notified the SLU community through flyers, which the
department is legally obligated to post within 24 hours of an event
and leave posted for 72 hours.

Titone noted that DPS is not obligated to post security alerts
through SLU’s e-mail accounts and only does so when crimes occur
outside DPS’s jurisdiction.

“I get a lot of positive feedback (about the e-mails), because
there are a lot of students that go to [off-campus locations],”
Titone said.