Students robbed at gunpoint on East Campus jogging trail

Continuing the rash of East Campus area robberies in the past month, two students were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday morning on the East Campus jogging trail.

The two victims-one of whom was a Duke student, the other a student from another university-were walking on the portion of the trail running parallel to Buchanan Street when a brown, compact vehicle thought to be a medium-sized Cadillac drove by them slowly, said Captain Charles Nordan of the Duke University Police Department.

The car circled around, Nordan continued, at which point a person in the passenger's seat allegedly jumped out of the vehicle, climbed over the stone wall encircling East Campus, and accosted the two students.

The suspect, who was carrying a gun, demanded that the students give him their valuables. The students handed over a small amount of cash and several miscellaneous cards. They described the suspect as a black man in his 20s who was about six-foot-three with a thin build. He was wearing a hat and white shoes as well as a mask or a bandana to cover his face, the victims said.

Trinity senior Karla Steingraber, who was driving down Buchanan toward Main Street at the time, said she saw the incident as it was transpiring and honked her horn in an attempt to scare the suspects.

"At first I only saw one man with his arms in the air," Steingraber said, "and I was thinking that it was some fraternity thing. Then I saw a guy crouched over with a gun and a second person with his hands in the air, and I knew something was wrong."

The suspect driving the vehicle then sped away in the direction of Main Street, while the armed suspect ran on foot in the direction of the Pre-major Advising Center, Nordan said.

Steingraber then drove the two victims to the main quadrangle on East Campus, where they contacted police. Campus Police officers responded to the call within a few minutes but were unable to locate either of the two suspects.