Student held at gunpoint 20 minutes from IC
At around 2:30pm on Wednesday afternoon, a student from Imperial College was mugged by two men, one of which was armed.
The student, a member of Photosoc, who wishes to remain anonymous, was making his way to university from his house in the early hours of the afternoon. He reached the large Tesco supermarket on Cromwell Road where he was asked if he had any “weed” by two black men. After declining to give the men anything, one of the muggers revealed a large pistol. He pulled the gun from beneath his trousers and demanded the student to hand over his mobile phone.
The student who is a keen photographer had his expensive SLR in hand at the time as he had just been taking some pictures. “Without thinking,” the photographer commented to Felix, “I handed over my mobile phone and pushed my camera in their direction at the same time too. They didn’t even threaten me for the camera, I just gave it to them.”
The student suffered no physical assault as the muggers then walked away with over £300 worth of electronic equipment.
The incident occurred less than twenty minutes away from campus. The student carried on towards university and happened to see a parked police car, so he informed the officers of the crime.
The photographer described the muggers to Felix as “people you’d expect to get mugged by” but despite this he was still surprised at the “daylight robbery.” He continued by commenting on how unexpected the whole event was and how he thought “it might have happened around North End Road at 2:30am (nearer to his house), but not there at 2:30 in the afternoon.”
The student stated that he “will be far more cautious in the future, when walking around with expensive stuff” and that he felt a mixture of emotions: anger combined with relief that more wasn’t stolen from him, or that he hadn’t been hurt.
He offered some advice to anyone else who finds themselves in such horrific circumstances: “If it happens to you, just hand over your stuff, it’s really not worth it. Make sure you report the incident to the police too.” The police contacted the victim at his home later in the evening and informed him that a man had been arrested later on Wednesday, possibly in connection with the mugging.
Thankfully the Photosoc member was not attacked or assaulted. Felix spoke to him a few hours after the incident when he appeared at the office door requesting to use the telephone. He appeared remarkably calm to this reporter considering what had happened only moments earlier.
If you have been the victim of crime, there are support services available within both the Union and College. For general advice, ranging from getting help with insurance companies to dealing with the distress of being a victim of crime, you can contact Nigel Cooke in the Information and Advice centre by phoning 020 7594 8067 (ext: 48067). Alternatively you can talk to the Student Counselling Service by phoning 020 7594 9637 (ext: 49637). Both services are free and offer full confidentiality.
