Crime at City College Raises Concerns Over Safety
By John R. Adkins
jradproduction@gmail.com
City College Police Department warns students to ‘walk in groups’, and ‘be aware of surroundings’ after a student was assaulted and robbed by two men at Ocean Campus on Thursday, Sept. 12.
At approximately 9:30 a.m., a student was followed off SFMTA bus No. 29 at the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Howth Street by two young men dressed in dark clothing. As they approached the Ocean Campus Wellness Center, the suspects started a fight with the student. The attackers snagged a gold chain from around the student’s neck while they were fighting on the ground. The suspects then took off running westbound on Ocean Ave toward the bus terminal on Frida Kahlo Way. The student sustained minor injuries from the attack.
“In light of recent incidents on campus that are regarding safety, I just wanted to reassure students there are other people in the community who are concerned. I would just try to stay positive, be aware of your surroundings and stick together because we’re strong in numbers,” Ellen Estrada, senator of Ocean Campus, stated in a public comment on Friday.
Thursday’s robbery marks a new trend in crime activity as it is the third criminal incident reported by campus police since the beginning of the semester. Last fall, only one incident was reported to students and it occurred off-campus. Now students and faculty are opening their emails to find as many on-campus criminal reports in the first four weeks of classes as there were throughout the entire 2023-24 academic year.
On Friday, Aug. 30, a man in a black ski mask cut through the construction site of the new Student Service Center. When asked to leave the premises, the man lifted his hoodie to brandish a Glock handgun tucked into his waistband. He then continued through the construction site before crossing Frida Kahlo Way towards the bus terminal.
Just one day prior on Aug. 29, at around 8:50 p.m., a student was attacked while waiting in his vehicle in the Wellness Center driveway. When idling at the stoplight to exit onto Ocean Avenue, a man in his 40s, with dirty blonde hair and a black jacket, charged at the student’s driver-side window and began pounding the blade of a knife into the glass.
The student escaped westbound on Ocean Avenue with the attacker in pursuit on foot. The suspect then stopped chasing the driver and disappeared back onto Ocean Campus.
Multiple other incidents were reported by students that were not reported by the Campus Police Department. On Aug. 29, the San Francisco Police Department was engaged in a chase that led to a search for the suspect on Mission Campus. Classes were interrupted around 6:30 p.m. by police officers asking if anyone had seen a man with a mask running through the building. Students who showed up late to class reported they were barred from entry as all doors had been locked down while police searched the building.
Petrina Pledger, president of Chinatown/North Beach Campus, also reported a “frightening incident” in a downtown fashion class on Thursday, Sept. 12. That night, a former fashion student with mental health challenges unexpectedly visited class. The faculty were able to remove the individual, but not without leaving many of the students feeling scared.
“I had some students come up to me that were concerned about safety [in response to Thursday’s Ocean Campus robbery], and I just said, try to stay positive and stay close to each other,” Senator Estrada explained.
Students are reminded that in the event of an armed robbery, “don’t resist, hand over valuables to the suspect.”
If anyone ever feels they need security walking to or from a class on campus, The Guardsman has been made aware that you can call campus police for an escort. Campus Police also stated they are willing to offer rides to and from the BART station between the office hours of 6:30 a.m. and 12:30 a.m.
Anyone with information regarding any of the incidents is requested to contact CCSF PD at (415)-239-3200 or on the cell phone line (415)-279-9001.