Despite the recent arrest of a teenager who tried rob an undercover cop earlier this week, police are reporting that another gunpoint robbery took place last night. This time a 23-year-old man was robbed at about 10 p.m. along the 4600 block of Hazel Avenue by a man with a silver handgun who police believe escaped in a grey sedan.
Police say the victim was walking down 46th Street and had just made the turn onto Hazel when he noticed a grey car parked and idling. As he continued along Hazel, he also noticed a man walking slowly in front of him. As he passed, the man pointed a small silver handgun at him, made him sit down on the front steps of a nearby home and demanded his wallet and cell phone, according to a police report.
As he was being robbed, the victim noticed the grey sedan slowly approaching. The robber told the man to run toward 47th Street. When the victim looked back the car and the man were both gone.
The victim was not injured.
The suspect is described as a black male, about 6-feet-two-inches tall with a thin build, about 20 years old wearing a grey hoodie and black sweat pants.
This is the latest in a string of robberies in the area round Baltimore Avenue from 46th to 49th Streets. Police arrested a teenager earlier this week who tried to rob an undercover police officer who they say confessed to other recent robberies.
Police are asking those with information to call 215-686-TIPS or text short code PPDTIP. You can also submit anonymously here.
March 13th, 2014 at 12:11 pm
great.
March 13th, 2014 at 12:15 pm
wtf..can’t even walk around without getting robbed
March 13th, 2014 at 2:40 pm
Anyone here screaming around Spruce/Pine and 45th last night? It was a little later at about midnight. Was there another mugging in that area?
March 13th, 2014 at 3:42 pm
If you hear screaming, call the cops or try to see what’s going on and help the person. Don’t ask about it online later!
March 13th, 2014 at 6:31 pm
I did. They said they’d send someone but I never heard anything else.
March 14th, 2014 at 7:27 am
answer to noise/screams last night : was a bunch of young women, im assuming sorority girls from a local college, running , barely dressed down the street with silly hats and drinks, screaming. maybe 12-15 of them. scared me.. took notice.
March 14th, 2014 at 11:50 am
We need to be realistic about this and consider these incidents in context. Think of the number of people who live in this area aprox. 42,000. If just 70% of them travel from work, school, or shopping back and forth that leaves about 30,000 residents traveling through our neighborhood.
Even if it was over 3 people, (about 5 actually,) that this happens to, this is a fairly safe neighborhood. We need to be vigilant and observe what is going on around us but we also need to be realistic that these are isolated incidences and not indicative of the norm. The norm is people coming back and forth with no issues.
We need to look at resources like the Crime Data website and see where the areas of concern are, interact with our neighbors via social media and other means and be in control of our neighborhood. It is our neighborhood, is it not? Those who are preying on people here more often than not do live here. If we can alert people to a great spot to eat or shop we can alert others to issues like this.
https://www.crimereports.com/ You will note that most of the crime is Southwest of this neighborhood, so imagine how our fellow neighbors in that area, who have a far higher need for concern than we do, feel. In saying that, even when taken into context, crime is not as extreme even in this “high crime” areas.
What we concentrate on will come to past. If we think we need to be vigilant we will be, if we think its unsafe, it will be.
March 16th, 2014 at 1:18 am
Hope they get mandatory minimumed.
March 18th, 2014 at 11:09 am
Hide your important cards and most of your cash in your shoe or boot. Always keep at least a $10 or $20 to hand over, just in case you DO get robbed.
March 18th, 2014 at 1:23 pm
Reality makes a good point, these incidents for obvious reasons make news, but they are not indicative of any larger trend, and are by far an abnormal experience the great majority of people living there. There are other quality of life issues that are more widespread (see above sorority girls, drunken students never seem to get addressed on these pages or by police). Stay safe, but also be thankful we are lucky to live an an overall safe community.