A Penn graduate student was robbed at gunpoint of $95 and his car on 42nd Street, between Spruce and Locust streets last Friday evening.
Paul Howard, who is a graduate student in criminology, said that, as he got out of his parked 1999 Ford Mustang at approximately 8:55 p.m., a man walked by and said, "Nice car." As Howard proceeded to walk down the sidewalk, he noticed the same man walking about 10 feet in front of him.
About halfway down the block, the man turned to face Howard, allegedly producing a small semi-automatic handgun.
Saying, "I'm sorry to have to do this to you," the man then demanded that Howard toss his car keys to a second man, who had appeared five to 10 feet behind Howard.
After Howard tossed the keys to the second man, he said the first man instructed the second, "Pookie, go start the car."
As "Pookie" was starting the car, the first man approached Howard, still pointing the gun at him, and demanded all of the money in his wallet.
The first man then joined "Pookie" in the car and they fled north on 42nd Street toward Locust.
The first male was described as an approximately 5-foot-8 black man in his late teens to early '20s with close-cropped hair, a light beard, a dark complexion and a medium build. He was wearing a dark-colored, baggy hooded coat or sweatshirt.
"Pookie" was described as an approximately 6-foot tall black male in his late teens to early '20s with a dark complexion, thin build and light beard.
The car has since been recovered by the Philadelphia Police Department in North Philadelphia at Broad and Thompson streets.
"I was trying to think whether or not I could get away from him," Howard said of his initial reaction to being held at gunpoint.
"I was thinking about running or throwing the keys at him -- if there was less distance, possibly tackling him ... but better sense prevailed, and I decided to give him my keys."
"It was a small gun," Howard said, noting that the robbers seemed inexperienced. "I never really felt much fear that he was going to shoot me. I wasn't scared of them."
However, Howard did admit, "Obviously I was scared enough to give them the keys."
Howard said that there was another person walking down the street at the time of the robbery, as well as two people getting out of their cars three-quarters of the way down the block. All of them had their backs turned to the incident, though, and did not witness the robbery.
The robbers, Howard said, "weren't yelling and shouting and waving their gun around or anything."
University Police Detective Frank DeMaio noted that where Howard was robbed is just within the University of Pennsylvania Police Department patrol area. He added that there have been a number of recent problems west of 43rd Street, outside of the UPPD's patrol area, and that this incident may represent those problems spilling over onto 42nd Street.
"Let's face it," DeMaio said, "thugs don't know boundaries."
DeMaio added that the Penn Police have conducted meetings with the city police discussing these issues. He said that, although nobody has been arrested, "we have some things we're looking at. We've developed some suspects."
"As is evidenced by where the car was found," he continued, "I don't think these people are from this area."
