Separate gunmen rob seven students, restaurant

Boston Market at 39th and Chestnut robbed of $4,900 Eight University students and the manager of a local restaurant have been the victims of seven armed robberies and a simple assault since last Friday, University Police Captain John Richardson said yesterday. A lone gunman robbed the Boston Market restaurant at 39th and Chestnut streets of $4,900 at approximately 1:30 a.m. last Friday, Richardson said. The male approached a Boston Market manager as he was leaving the restaurant and forced him back inside, according to the manager, who asked to remain anonymous. The male threatened the manager with the gun and told him to open the restaurant's safe for him, the manager said. "I was definitely shaken," the manager said. "It's the first time it ever happened to me. I didn't really know how to react at the time." The gunman tripped an alarm that notified Philadelphia Police when he exited the building through a back door, the manager said. The manager added that he also called Philadelphia Police as soon as the gunman left. He said he could not trip the restaurant's silent alarm during the robbery because the perpetrator would have seen him do it. "[The gunman] wasn't very forceful," the manager said. "Nothing came of it so it wasn't that bad." Philadelphia Police responded to the report of a robbery in progress early Friday morning, Richardson said. Before they arrived, the gunman fled the scene, heading north on 39th Street. Police took a report from the night manager that the gunman had taken an entire day's worth of sales, Richardson said. Philadelphia Police transported the manager to the department's Southwest Detectives bureau. The Boston Market manager involved said that since the robbery, the store has instituted a policy that before a manager leaves the store at night, he must call University Police for an escort to his car. In the past, he said, managers on night duty would park their cars close to the restaurant's door so they could reach their cars quickly upon leaving. In an unrelated incident, two males accosted a male University student. One was armed with an automatic handgun. They robbed the student of his wallet at 3:30 a.m. Sunday at 40th and Pine streets, Richardson said. He added that the suspects escaped westbound on Pine Street in a gray Plymouth Neon. In another unrelated incident, three University students were robbed at gunpoint by two males on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. at 42nd and Spruce streets. The students were walking home when the males approached them, Richardson said, adding that one of the suspects approached a female student and threatened her with a large automatic handgun. The suspect with a gun asked the woman if "she wanted to get killed," and then said to all three students, "nice and slow, give me your money," said Richardson, citing a report he received. The suspects took the wallets of all three students, he added. Philadelphia Police took reports from the students and unsuccessfully searched the area for the suspects, Richardson said. The same students later received harassing phone calls at their residence, he said. University Police and the Victim Support officials are investigating the calls. They do not know if the phone calls were connected to the armed robbery, Richardson said. In another unrelated incident on Sunday at 10:15 p.m., a University student and his companion were robbed of their wallets by two males, one with an automatic weapon, at 32nd and Walnut streets. And in a separate incident, a female University student was robbed at gunpoint early Tuesday morning at 21st and Lombard Streets as she left a bar at 1:39 a.m., according to Richardson. A male approached the student and said "give me all your money [and] don't look at me," Richardson said. The male perpetrator took $15 from her. In still another unrelated incident, a University student reported that five males assaulted him at 3:53 a.m. Sunday at 40th and Spruce streets, Richardson said. The victim said he was attacked from behind and thrown to the ground. The incident gave him a large lump on his head and briefly lost consciousness, Richardson said. The student was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and later released.