Police investigating armed robbery near UCF campus
A University of Central Florida student told police he and his roommate were robbed at gunpoint in their apartment near campus Wednesday night.
The two UCF students in a third-floor apartment in Pointe at Central, on College Knight Court, weren’t hurt, police said. They waited about an hour after the 7 p.m. robbery — until the suspects left the area — to call for help, police said.
“We believe the particular apartment was targeted because of drugs, and we think that’s also the reason for the delayed call to police,” said Courtney Gilmartin, a UCF police spokeswoman.
Police haven’t made any arrests, but they are asking for the public’s help identifying a woman seen driving through the apartment’s security gate. She’s a person of interest in the case, Gilmartin said, and officers think she was in the unit before the robbery. Investigators don’t think there’s a threat to others in the apartment complex or the university community.
One of the students, Cameron Robau, 19, said he left his apartment door unlocked while he went to his car. In that time, two men barged into the apartment.
Robau and his roommate Patrick Michel, 20, said they saw one of the men carrying a firearm, according to a police report. The suspects told them to close their eyes and count to 1,000, police said. They also told the pair not to move or “try anything stupid” because they had the apartment surrounded. The suspects took a wallet with $90 in cash, ID and credit cards; a PlayStation 4 console, controllers and games; an iPhone 7; and a backpack. They left after about five minutes, Robau said.
The students told authorities they tracked the stolen phone using an app and saw that the suspects were still nearby, so they waited for them to leave before calling police.
Police issued a notice to students on social media, discouraging them from buying or selling drugs near campus.
Anyone with more information about the case can call Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477 or UCF police at 407-823-5555.