The most dangerous city in the United States lived up to its reputation for one Saint Louis University student on Wednesday, Oct. 10.

Sophomore Monica Martinez had just parked her car at approximately 5:15 p.m. in the parking lot behind Marchetti Towers, when a man approached her.

He then shoved a gun to her stomach and demanded her possessions.

Though she kept repeating that she didn’t have anything, he persisted and was soon joined by a second man, whom Martinez bumped into as she stepped backwards.

Martinez, who was on the phone with a friend in Grand Forest apartments at the time, didn’t know what to do.

“All I did was I kept repeating to myself and praying in my head, ‘Please, God, please,'” she said.

“Students in particular are targets [in recent crimes], and that concerns me more than anything,” said SLU Director of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Sam Simon.

Martinez’s friend on the phone guessed what was happening, hung up and called the Department of Public Safety.

Shortly thereafter, the two men then fled on foot toward Grand Boulevard, for reasons unknown to Martinez.

“Something made them bolt,” she said. “I guess they decided that I didn’t have anything.”

Martinez called DPS immediately after the men disappeared, and by the time she reached Marchetti East, several officers had already appeared.

Martinez was later taken to the Shell Station to examine video surveillance in an attempt to match two suspects to the descriptions she had given. As a result, they were able to identify the car and the license plate number. Nothing was taken from Martinez, nor was she injured in the encounter.

Even so, after her experience, Martinez stressed a need for knowledge about self-defense.

“I had no idea what to do,” she said. “You always think it won’t happen to [you] . [But] they have a gun and all you have is your voice.”

The attempted robbery took place only 12 days after another SLU student was taken into a car and sexually assaulted, raising questions about safety on an urban campus like SLU’s.

“It appears that … we need to concentrate on the perimeter part of our campus,” Simon said.

In response to the two crimes, DPS has doubled its patrols around the Marchetti parking lot, and Simon is looking into areas around campus that may need increased surveillance.

“If there’s an area where we’re going to be most vulnerable . I definitely want to know where [it] is,” he said.

At this point, investigations into the attempted armed robbery are being led by the St. Louis Police.

The two suspects in last week’s sexual assault were apprehended, but according to Simon, were released after cooperating with authorities. The prosecutor ultimately chose not to file charges.

Though questions to the St. Louis Police about the suspects’ release remained unanswered at press time, Simon conjectured that the fact that the student was not necessarily forced into the car might have had something to do with the prosecutor’s decision.

“Tape evidence suggests that she walked with the two [suspects],” he said.

As far as SLU’s safety is concerned, Simon asked that anyone who has any suggestions for improving campus safety e-mail or call him to let him know.

“Historically, this campus has enjoyed a pretty safe record . I’m confident we can create an environment here where people feel safe to . live in and work in and go to school in,” he said.