Features

Brazen banditry 

A midday Sunday holdup cost a 20-year-old UC Berkeley student the loss of an ATM cash withdrawal Sept. 20, according to UC Berkeley police. 

The victim was cycling on the south side of the Valley Life Sciences building when he was accosted by a burly and heavily tattooed man who demanded money. 

According to a UCPD crime bulletin, the victim, “feeling threatened,” took the man to an ATM near Bechtel Terrace, withdrew cash, and handed it over to the man, who then fled. 

The student wasn’t injured during the encounter, police report, though he waited three days before reporting the crime. 

Frat invasion 

Entering through an unlocked door, a pair of robbers, one carrying a pistol and his companion brandishing a knife, robbed two fraternity brothers inside their residence in the 2700 block of Channing Way Sept. 30. 

Victims called 911, and campus and city police started a manhunt that began within moments of the 3:30 a.m. hold-up. 

Minutes later, a Berkeley police office spotted a suspicious male and detained him. Once the victims made a positive ID, he was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery. 

Police identified the man as Michael VanWidenfeldt, 24. His alleged partner in crime remains at large, campus police report. 

iJacked 

A 19-year-old UC Berkeley student lost her iPod to a strong-arm robber who accosted her in the university’s Ellsworth Parking Structure near the intersection of Ellsworth and Haste streets Sept. 30. 

The young woman had been walking along Ellsworth, listening to music on her MP3 player, when she spotted a trio of suspicious males loitering near the intersection, according to the campus crime bulletin. 

When she headed into the parking structure, one of the men pursued her, snatching her iPod and injuring her slightly in the process, police reported. 

Fortunately for the victim, a pair of Good Samaritans witnessed the crime and set out in pursuit of the thief, managing to retrieve the music player. 

Purse snatchers 

Two women robbed a UC Berkeley student of her purse as she walked along the 2200 block of Bancroft Way Monday evening, Oct. 5, according to campus police. 

The pedestrian was approached about 6:22 p.m., when one of the women shoved her and grabbed the purse. The pair fled on foot and were gone by the time campus and city police arrived. 

Shots fired 

Gunshots erupted along the 1500 block of Oregon Street Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 6, though no one was injured, according to Berkeley Police Officer Andrew J. Frankel. 

Between five and seven rounds were fired moments before 2:30 p.m. by at least one of a pair of gunmen who were on foot. They jumped in a nearby car and were gone before officers arrived. 

“No one was hit,” said Officer Frankel, and there were no reports of the shots striking nearby homes. 

Frankel said the case is currently the focus of an active investigation. 

—Richard Brenneman 

Downtown stabbing 

Berkeley police have arrested a man in connection with two stabbings that took place in downtown Berkeley Wednesday, Sept. 30. 

Berkeley Police Department spokesperson, Officer Andrew Frankel, said Berkeley police officers responded to a stabbing on the 2000 block of Milvia Street just after 4 p.m. The officers found a man and a woman who had been stabbed by another man, a family member, who had fled the scene. 

Frankel said the suspect was stopped a few blocks away in his car and taken into custody by Berkeley police officers without further incident. 

The victims were transported to Highland Hospital in Oakland where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. 

Frankel declined to name the victims and the suspect or give any other details about the incident. 

—Riya Bhattacharjee