U. employee robbed at gunpoint

and Brett Levinson A University employee and a companion reported that their wallets were stolen by a male with a black semi-automatic revolver at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to University Police Captain John Richardson. The incident took place at 43rd and Locust streets. The suspect escaped in a gold Ford Taurus station wagon traveling west on Locust Street. This most recent incident is the latest in a string of heavily armed assaults to occur in University City, many involving University affiliates. In the past week, six separate armed robberies have occurred, including a lone gunman's holdup of Boston Market at 39th and Chestnut streets. The perpetrator fled with $4,900 from the restaurant. "There's no one particular area we're getting hit harder in," Richardson said of the crime wave. "With the influx of students, these things do occur until we get an opportunity to get a handle on them." Including yesterday's altercation, three assaults involving semi-automatic weapons have occurred in the last week. Semi-automatic weapons have greater firepower, speed and accuracy than revolvers, University Police Chief of Operations Maureen Rush said last year. Many of these weapons can hold up to 18 bullets -- as opposed to six bullets in a revolver, according to Rush. University Police also reported two other instances of non-armed, or "simple" assaults in the past week, including the harassment of a female student in Van Pelt Library Tuesday night. Neither Rush nor Managing Director of Public Safety Thomas Seamon have responded to phone calls from The Daily Pennsylvanian.