Daytime Assault, Armed Robbery in People's Park

With a semiautomatic handgun pointed at his face, a man was robbed by two other men in People's Park on Saturday afternoon, according to UC Berkeley police.

"The victim tried to stand but was wrestled to the ground by the suspects," campus police said in a crime alert issued today, Monday. 

"The victim began to yell at bystanders for assistance," the alert said. "As the bystanders started to respond the suspects left the scene."

The robbers eluded a search of the area by campus and City of Berkeley police. UC owns the park, and the two police agencies often cooperate in responding to park-related crime.

The robbery occurred about 4:28 p.m., when the 48-year-old victim sat at the opposite end of a picnic table on the west side of the park where two men were already seated, UC police said. The two men got up and approached the victim and demanded his property as one of them "pointed a dark colored semi-automatic handgun in the victim’s face," police said.

UC police said the suspects were described as:

Suspect #1:  A Black, male, mid-30s in age, 5’06” in height, approximately 165 lbs., with a medium build and dark complexion, wearing black beanie cap, black leather jacket and black shoes.

Suspect #2 – A Black, male, mid-30s in age, 6’02” in height, with a medium stocky build, with a light complexion, wearing a tan leather jacket with a gray hooded sweatshirt underneath. 

Another daytime robbery case occurred in the same vicinity three days before, on Jan. 8, when a man tried to take the cell phone and other property from a victim at the busy intersection of Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way, immediately adjacent to the UC Berkeley campus. The suspect was captured in that case.

The general vicinity of the campus area has been plagued by robberies involving physical assaults in the past month, including these cases:

• Suspect Caught in Daytime Robbery Next to Cal Campus (Jan. 11, 2014)
• Student Assaulted, Robbed of Cell Phone on Berkeley Campus (Jan. 7, 2014)
• Woman Robbed in People's Park Monday Morning (Dec. 24, 2013)
• Female, 19, Punched in Face, Robbed Near UC Campus (Dec. 20, 2013)
• Woman, Man Injured in Violent Armed Robbery South of Cal Campus (Dec. 19, 2013)
• Armed Robbery in Downtown Berkeley, Victim Hit (Dec. 19, 2013)
• Female Student Attacked in Robbery Attempt on Cal Campus (Dec. 18, 2013)
• Victim Hit with Gun in Robbery Next to UC Berkeley Campus (Dec. 13, 2013)
• Employee Punched in Ice Cream Shop Robbery 2 Blocks from Cal Campus (Dec. 13, 2013)
• Female UC Student Attacked, Robbed – Suffers Minor Injuries (Dec. 12, 2013)