UH puts out alert after student reportedly robbed at gunpoint

HOUSTON

Imagine walking through a dark parking lot when someone approaches you from behind and pulls out a gun.

"It's happened at the parking lot across the street, it's happened down the road, but I didn't know it was going to happen here," said sophomore April Hart.

Cullen Oaks is a popular on campus apartment complex. University of Houston police say a student was robbed in visitor parking just after midnight. She told police a man aimed a semi-automatic handgun at her and demanded her cell phone. He then drove off in a dark colored Buick.

Students received email alerts about two hours later.

Junior Taylor Leonard said, "I mean, we're at the library all night trying to study and coming back. It's scary."

Sophomore Amber Johnson says she's started carrying a pocket knife.

"Just when I get out of my car, I just carry it while I walk up to my room," she said.

She says a man approached her in the same parking lot a few weeks ago.

"It looked like he was doing laundry and next thing you know he pulled out a gun and started rubbing it and smiling at me," Johnson recalled. "I just kind of was like, let me get in my car and drive off and go to my parents' house down the street."

"I figured a college campus would be safe," said freshman Cameron Kalapesky.

The suspect was described as a black male, between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall with a thin build. He was reportedly wearing a white T-shirt and black shorts with a red stripe down the sides.

He was reportedly seen leaving in a dark-colored two-door older model Buick with a vinyl roof.

If you know anything about this case, you're asked to call University of Houston police 713-743-3333.

Find Pooja on Facebook at PoojaLodhia-Reporter or on Twitter at @impoojalodhia

Copyright © 2024 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.