The UH Police Department released a photograph Monday of what police said depicts the two suspects involved in an alleged robbery that took place Saturday outside of Agnes Arnold Hall.
The complainant was walking alone, east of Agnes Arnold Hall, when one of the suspects grabbed her purse and the other grabbed her laptop, police said.’ The complainant managed to hold onto her purse but one of the alleged suspects ran off with her laptop between the Agnes Arnold Auditoriums and the Social Work Building, police said.
‘It’s hard to say right now if they are affiliated (with UH),’ public information officer Lieutenant Bret Collier said. ‘The standing with the University (if suspects are students) – we will always make a referral with the dean of students office, but ultimately it will be their decision what kind of University sanctions will be in place.’
The alleged suspects did not threaten or harm the complainant and were unarmed. Police will increase high visibility patrols in the area to discourage any further altercations. They also information that is helping move the case forward Collier said.
‘The leads that we’re following up currently have to do with tracking the property, which is usually one of our best leads,’ Collier said. ‘If we can get serial numbers, which we did, we can track property, and if we have photos we may be able to release.’ We do have a photo from one of the cameras that was in the area and we’re looking to find some better pictures.’
The alleged suspects in the photo are black males, both 5 foot 9 inches tall and around 18 years old, police said.’ One was wearing a red hooded jacket and black sweatpants and the other wore an orange and black hooded jacket and black basketball shorts, police said.
‘We may be able to enhance (the photo). We have our investigators working on it and they have some techniques to enhance the photos,’ Collier said. ‘It will change the way we investigate it, because we’ll put out the photograph and hopefully anyone who saw anything or knows anything can contact us.’
Despite the leads, it is difficult to determine the likelihood of the alleged robbers’ arrest, Collier said.
‘There are several resolutions that can come out of it. One can be getting property back, two could be resulting in an arrest,’ he said. ‘It all depends on how the leads pan out. It’s really hard to say at this time.’
Campus police recommend students use the resources available on the UH Police Web site at www.uh.edu/police. The site includes tips for staying safe and preventing crime, as well as what to do if students fall victim to a crime or see any suspicious persons on campus.
‘One is to make use of the blue-light phones that are on campus if they are a victim of crime, or if they see any suspicious people on campus,’ Collier said. ‘Maybe make use of our security escort program if you need to get from a building to your vehicle or anything of that nature, an officer or one of our student workers will escort you to where you need to go. There are really a myriad of things that a person can do.’
