An unidentified man robbed the South Campus apartment of a SUNY-ESF student and a Syracuse University student at gunpoint at about 11 p.m. Thursday at 200 Lambreth Lane, according to a Syracuse Police Department report.

The girlfriend of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry student, an SU student, was also in the apartment, the report stated.

The man knocked on the door, wearing a black skeleton mask and a navy blue hooded sweatshirt, and did not respond when asked who was there. Upon entering, he struck the SU student in the head with a black revolver, the report added.

The man began yelling at the students to ‘shut up’ and close their eyes, the report stated. He ordered the ESF student off the couch where he was seated and struck him in the forehead with the revolver, the report added. The ESF student then heard another unidentified man in a black skeleton mask speaking and looked at him but was struck again in the head with the revolver, the report stated.

The men then tied up the ESF student’s hands, feet and neck with telephone wire, covered his eyes and mouth with duct tape and stole his wallet but only took his New York state identification, the report added. The ESF student’s girlfriend was also tied up, the report stated.

The men proceeded to steal various items from the first and second floors, the report stated. The men stole a laptop computer, two cellular phones, several assorted video games, a credit card and cash, the report added.

The students freed themselves soon after the men left and called the police, the report stated. They did not know the men’s identities and did not know how the men fled the apartment, the report added.

SU spokesman Kevin Morrow said it is unclear why this particular apartment was targeted. It is also unknown whether the men entered through the South Campus Welcome Center while it was operational, after 8 p.m., or walked onto South Campus from another location, Morrow said.

‘SInce the Welcome Center was put into place the number of larcenies and burglaries on South have dropped substantially this fall as compared to last fall,’ Morrow said.

Published on November 10, 2002 at 12:00 pm