By Miharu Sugie, News Staff
Three men accosted and pointed a gun at a student in the Fens area on Jan. 24, according to Northeastern University Division of Public Safety (NUPD). The men took the student’s bank card and fled down Forsyth Street, towards the intersection of Ruggles and Parker streets.
The student was not harmed, NUPD said in an email to students. The Boston Police Department (BPD) and NUPD could not be reached for comment.
Although Eliza Swieczkowski, a freshman ASL interpreting major, said she feels safe walking around on campus, she admitted that the incident surprised her.
“I was a little bit freaked out because I live right across from the Fens,” Swieczkowski said. “Most of the alerts we’ve been getting are in Roxbury but this is a lot closer to me.”
Just two weeks ago, NUPD alerted students about a shooting incident in a hair salon near Tremont and Hammond streets. The victim was officially declared dead in the Boston Medical Center. Zach Ferland, a middler computer science major, said that NUPD should focus more on securing areas like Roxbury that are on the edge of campus, rather than just the Fens.
Friday’s incident is one of many robberies reported in the area near Forsyth and Ruggles streets in the Fens: some incidents include early October, when two students were robbed at knifepoint near West Village and last summer, when a Northeastern student was approached by two suspects who threatened her with a folding knife and fled with her purse.
“I think the smartest thing would be to walk in group in unfamiliar places,” Cody Van Kampen, a middler business marketing major, said. “If you seem lost or confused, you probably appear vulnerable. The better you know your surroundings, the safer you are.”
NUPD notified students via an NU Alert email that the three suspects in the robbery are still on the loose, and BPD and NUPD officials have increased patrols in the Back Bay Fens area. NUPD encourages students to contact them at (617) 373-3333 for emergencies, or (617) 373-2121 for non-emergencies.
