Man assaulted, robbed on Knox

A 21-year-old man was assaulted and robbed late Friday night as he was walking to his car in the College Park City Hall parking lot on Knox Road, police said.

Around 11:40 p.m., the victim, who is not a student at this university, was reportedly approached by a male who demanded he hand over his belongings, University Police spokesman Capt. Marc Limansky said. The man then lifted his shirt and revealed to the victim what appeared to be a gun, Limansky said.

Two more unknown men joined the suspect, and one of them allegedly hit the victim in the face, police said. The 21-year-old suffered minor contusions from the hit, Limansky said.

The Prince George's County Police Department is still investigating the incident, and police are actively seeking the three suspects who fled from the 4500 block of Knox Road in an unknown direction after stealing the victim's personal property, Limansky said.

Police did not say which items the assailants took from the victim.

The victim described the suspects as three black males — one of whom was about 6 feet tall and wearing of the other two suspects.

The victim drove to his Clinton, Md., home before alerting police to the incident.

Limansky encouraged any victims to call police as soon as possible after crimes occur.

"We always ask that people call us immediately so we can quickly start looking for the suspect, but that didn't happen in this case," Limansky said. "We like to collect evidence as fast as we can."

Prince George's County Police could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Limansky said although University Police is not investigating the case, he sent a university crime alert via email because of the incident's close proximity to the campus.

"It was a crime of violence in an area that has a high student population, so it was appropriate to send out an alert," Limansky said.

Grace Hegarty, sophomore government and politics major, said though she appreciates the crime alerts sent to university students, she wishes they were sent in a more timely manner.

"I kind of wish they would send out the crime alert as soon as they get the police report," Hegarty said. "I feel like waiting a whole 24 hours after it happened to send an email is not a good idea. It's scary and I would've liked to have known about it [as soon as possible], not a whole day after."

Other students, such as sophomore cell biology and genetics major Andrew Macaluso, said although incidents like this one are frightening, they are also easily preventable.

"It just goes to show how important it is to never walk alone, especially if it's in a bad area like that," Macaluso said.

egan@umdbk.com