A woman walking north of the UC Berkeley campus was kicked and punched during a robbery Monday night, authorities report.
The 20-year-old was walking at 10 p.m. in the 2600 block of Virginia Street near Le Roy Avenue when three men approached her, said Lt. Peter Hong of the Berkeley Police Department.
The men, who had a knife, “punched and kicked the woman” and robbed her of her backpack: “The woman was left with visible injuries to her face and body,” Hong said.
Berkeley has averaged about a robbery a day over the past five years.
Earlier this month, police arrested a group of men they had linked to a series of armed robberies where knives were used near UC Berkeley. Court papers put the number of possible robberies in that series at six between Friday, Oct. 12, and Monday, Oct. 15.
In one of those cases police, three people robbed a man on Arch Street just south of Hilgard Avenue. Two of the robbers had knives. In another incident, two people “put a knife” to a man’s throat at Parker Street just east of College Avenue, then took the man’s backpack. Two men also robbed a woman at knifepoint in the 1600 block of Oxford Street.
The Alameda County district attorney’s office brought charges against at least two men in that case. Neither man is in custody any longer.
Berkeleyside has asked BPD whether there is any indication the latest incident could be linked to the earlier ones. This story will be updated if that information is provided.
