The Middletown Police Department has continued its investigation of the Mar. 26 attempted armed robbery of a student and his guest on William St., but no suspects have been apprehended.

“There are not many available leads to pursue at this point,” said Director of Public Safety Dave Meyer of the William St. incident. “When there are multiple people involved [the suspect description] is often fairly vague…and [the assault] doesn’t fit any specific pattern.”

The incident occurred early Sunday morning, when a vehicle approached the two persons. According to Meyer, one individual then exited the passenger side of the vehicle, displayed a handgun, and asked for money.

“Incidents involving guns around the campus are fairly rare,” Meyer said. “I think we’re seeing a few more simple assaults [involving] a quick verbal confrontation, one punch, pushing someone to the ground, that sort of thing.”

A high number of these simple assaults have involved high school-aged youth, according to Meyer. He cited reported assaults from last fall and the current spring semesters, noting that most suspect descriptions involved youth between 15 and 20 years of age

Public Safety is working with Lieutenant Paul Liseo, Middletown Police Department’s high school resource officer. Lieutenant Liseo specifically works within the school, allowing him to gain familiarity with many of the students. Last Friday and Saturday nights, Lieutenant Liseo helped patrol the University campus.

“What we’re trying to do is identify groups of high school students hanging around campus,” he said. “Hopefully if something does happen, we’ll have an idea of who it is.”
Meyer also met with Director of Communications Justin Harmon last week to discuss recent incidents of assault reported by Public Safety. They also discussed actions that would be taken between now and the end of the academic year.

“The sense is that there seems to be more instances than anyone can remember,” Harmon said. “We’re trying to address this issue in a broader manner.”

In addition to working with Lieutenant Liseo, Public Safety has hired extra police enforcement on a temporary basis to patrol the campus on weekends.

“Having that extra police officer is a good asset,” Meyer said. “We’re trying to work on better coordination with the Middletown Police Department…it is a real collaborative effort.”

The attempted armed robbery occurred on campus during a violent week in Middletown, which included a fatal shooting, a robbery, and a drug bust.