UC Berkeley students robbed at gunpoint while filming movie project on Fourth Street
The driver pulled up beside them and came to an abrupt stop, then three people with guns jumped out of the car, authorities said.
UC Berkeley students filming a movie for a school project were robbed at gunpoint Saturday night in the popular Fourth Street shopping district, authorities report.
Ten Cal students were filming the project in the 1700 block of Fourth Street, between Hearst Avenue and Virginia Street, when they were accosted, the Berkeley Police Department said in response to a Berkeley Scanner inquiry.
The students were part of a film study group of some kind, according to BPD.
Initial reports were that four people in a silver sedan, such as a Nissan, were casing the group at about 10:25 p.m., police said.
The driver pulled up beside them and came to an abrupt stop, then three people who each had guns jumped out of the car, authorities said.
The robbers took cameras, cellphones and iPads from the UC Berkeley students before fleeing in the silver car.
Berkeley police said the investigation is ongoing.
The armed robbery Saturday night followed three strong-arm robberies in Berkeley over just 15 minutes in the afternoon.
As of March 13, there had been 68 robberies in Berkeley over approximately the same number of days this year, according to local police data.
Historically, Berkeley averaged about a robbery a day, but that number dropped during the pandemic.
This year has seen the city's robbery stats returning to historic levels.
This story will be updated if more information becomes available.
Read more about robberies in Berkeley from recent TBS coverage.
