Two armed robberies this past week -- one of which involved Penn students -- ended the University's nearly month-long break from serious crimes.
Police have not made arrests in either case.
The more recent robbery occurred Sunday around noon, as a Cosi restaurant manager was walking with a co-worker to make a $3,521 deposit at the Citizens Bank located at 34th and Moravian streets.
The manager reported that she and her male co-worker were walking east on Sansom Street when they saw an approaching man who appeared to be reading a newspaper while walking in the opposite direction.
When the male reached the pair, he dropped his newspaper to reveal a large, silver semiautomatic pistol. He demanded that the manager give him the backpack she was wearing and keep walking or he would kill both of them.
Complying with his demands, the manager handed over her backpack -- which contained the deposit as well as an ATM card and deposit-box key -- and continued east on Sansom while the attacker ran west.
Police have not identified any suspects in the case, and the investigation is ongoing.
The victims described the robber as a black male in his early- to mid-20s with very light skin and a mole on his left cheek. They said he is between 5-foot-8 and 5-10 and is well-built.
At the time of the robbery, he was wearing a blue-gray skullcap with a dark horizontal band and a dark-hooded zip-front sweatshirt.
On the previous Friday, two male Penn students were robbed at gunpoint around 1:30 a.m. on the 4000 block of Spruce Street.
The students were walking west on Spruce when they were approached by two other males, one carrying a silver, semiautomatic handgun, who demanded that the students hand over their money and wallets.
One of the students gave the robbers $30 in cash and his credit cards, but the other refused to give in.
After a struggle with the unarmed robber, the student broke away from the scene and called 911 on his cell phone.
The robbers left the scene soon after, running south between the houses on Spruce Street in the direction of Delancey Street.
Police have not identified any suspects, but the students gave descriptions of the robbers.
According to the students, the robbers are black males between 5-foot-10 and 6 feet in height and are both in their early 20s. The men do not have any facial hair, and both have dark complexions. At the time of the robbery, they were wearing dark blue or black jackets or hooded sweatshirts.
The man carrying the gun was also wearing a skullcap, they said.
Investigators said that they have not found links between the two cases, if there indeed are any.
Last week's incidents mark the first robberies on campus since a Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania employee was robbed and assaulted Feb. 1. They also are the first crimes involving weaponry since a shooting occurred outside the Bridge: Cinema de Lux on Feb. 18. No one was hurt in that incident.
