Takeover robbery reported at clothing shop near UC Berkeley
In the wake of recent serious crime reports, UC Berkeley parents and other community members say Cal must "do more to keep students safe."
Armed robbers forced staff into the back of a Berkeley clothing shop Thursday morning while they stole money from the store safe, authorities report.
The incident happened at 2nd Street, a vintage clothing shop located at 2543 Telegraph Ave. (at Blake Steet) in the Southside neighborhood near UC Berkeley.
Police said two men with a gun followed a staff member into the clothing shop just before 10 a.m.
According to shop hours posted on the 2nd Street USA website, the store had not yet opened for the day.
The men, who wore masks and dark clothing and were described as 6 feet tall, "ordered the staff to the back of the store and demanded cash from the safe," Berkeley police said in response to a Scanner inquiry.
After taking the cash, the men fled the area, police said.
Officers responded immediately, canvassing the neighborhood for witnesses and surveillance footage, according to dispatch audio reviewed by The Scanner.
No further information was immediately available.
Robberies overall are down this year in Berkeley compared to a significant spike last year.
Recent weeks, however, have already seen more than a half-dozen robberies within blocks of the UC Berkeley campus, according to BPD data.
(No UCPD crimes have been posted on its crime-mapping site since June 29, although a daily log remains available.)
On July 29, UC Berkeley police sent out a WarnMe notice after a 21-year-old UC Berkeley student was robbed in the 2400 block of College Avenue (near Haste Street) at about 7:10 a.m.
In that incident, police said the robber ran up behind a young woman and grabbed her bag off her shoulder.
The student struggled to keep her bag but the robber managed to pull it away from her and fled west on Haste Street in a white four-door vehicle.
Authorities did not include a description of the culprit in its published WarnMe alert.
As of this week, no arrests had been reported in that case, Berkeley police said.
SafeBears to UC Berkeley: "Do more to keep students safe"
Emilie Raguso
Robberies have not been the only incidents of concern near campus in recent weeks.
Last week, gunfire near UC Berkeley's Clark Kerr Track and Hillside Campus prompted a manhunt and lockdown near Cal, provoking widespread alarm in the community.
It was the second shooting reported on UC Berkeley property this year (neither one resulted in injuries).
SafeBears, a nonprofit group formed by UC Berkeley parents and other community members last year in response to neighborhood safety concerns, issued a strong statement after last week's gunfire, calling for Cal to "do more to keep students safe."
"UC Berkeley continues to struggle to provide timely and informative emergency alerts, even after promising improvements following its communication failure during the Sproul Plaza shooting earlier this year," SafeBears said.
Emilie Raguso
In its statement, the group said UC Berkeley used confusing language in its safety alert last week, referencing a campus location by obscure initials rather than by its full name, and failed to include any suspect description in early messaging.
SafeBears also called for better tools for police as well as increased staffing going forward.
"There does not appear to be any camera footage available to help law enforcement identify and apprehend the suspect," SafeBears continued. "And the fact that UC Berkeley Police employ about half the officers they did 10 years ago makes preventing and responding to campus crime much more challenging."
Campus officials have said little about the shooting investigation since its initial response concluded.
UC Berkeley's fall semester is set to begin next week.
