Garden Apartments targeted in string of weekend crimes
April 14, 2016
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Mercer University students were targets in a string of weekend crimes following Bearstock Saturday April 9.
The most violent involved a Mercer University student being robbed at gunpoint inside of his room at the 1503 Garden Apartments.
Two men brandishing black pistols entered room 106 around 11:30 p.m. while the student was watching TV. One of the men pointed the gun at his head and demanded his cellphone and wallet while the other man began going through the student’s room. Once inside, the pair spent only a few minutes in the room.
By the time they left, the men made off with the student’s wallet, a $1,500 Samsung computer, a $400 Xbox, a $600 iPhone 6 with a Star Wars case and an Apple Watch valued at $300, according to a Mercer police report.
The men also took items from the student’s roommates, which included a Playstation 3, an army combat uniform shirt, a pair of combat boots and a MacBook Pro.
Surveillance video captured the two men making their way through the center entranceway of the apartment complex and down a hallway. They waited a short time before entering the room. Students also spoke to the alleged robbers before the incident. One was seen leaving, carrying a duffel bag.
“There was a lot of activity in the area during that time,” said Mercer Police Cpl. Mike Kondorf.
Kondorf said the door to the apartment was unlocked.
The same pair was also connected to one of the “dozen or so” reported phone thefts or missing phone reports made following Bearstock, Kondorf said.
As of Monday, April 11, there was one filed police report involving a cell phone theft.
In the filed report, a student was walking through the park when a man matching the description of one of the gunman snatched her phone from her back pocket.
According to police records, other apartments in the area were also hit.
Two residents in room 201 in the 1751 Garden Apartments had items stolen. One had a $200 pair of headphones taken and the other discovered that $10 worth of quarters was missing. Both left the room in the evening and came back around midnight.
Two students in room 301 in the 1751 Garden Apartments had a black Playstation, a microphone, headphones, an audio box and some clothes stolen from their room.
Reports also indicate that a student in room 203 had a Playstation 4 with controllers and games, a 32-inch television, two pairs of tennis shoes, $200 in cash, a Mercer-issued football bag with books and a G-Shock watch taken from his room. The student was told that a man with a duffel bag was also seen leaving his room.
All of the cases are still under investigation, said Mercer Police Chief Gary Collins.
Nicholas is a Southern Studies and Journalism double major at Mercer. He is a junior and serves as The Cluster's Managing Editor. He enjoys the works of...
As a parent of a student at Mercer i am very concerned with the security on the Mercer Campus. I have seen the Garden apartments as our daughter also lives there . One suggestion would be that there should be 6 foot tall gates and cameras installed at each entrance of the stairs and hall ways leading to the apartments. This would deter would be criminals as only people with traceable keycards could access the apartment hallways and staircases.
Also more Mercer police hired and patrolling the campus every day and night would deter any criminals form attempting to enter the campus. From what i heard from our daughter regarding this incident a few weeks back the criminals were teenaged offenders and known to the Mercer Police.
This extra security measure would keep this type of crime from repeating itself in the future. There is no need for students to feel unsafe and their parents feeling unsafe for their children attending Mercer University.