Mpls. police see uptick in armed robberies near U of M

Minneapolis Police are still looking for three suspects involved in the latest armed robbery near the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus.

Police say around 3:45 a.m. Sunday, a man reported he was approached by three men in the 8th Street SE and 12th Avenue SE area. The men robbed him at gunpoint and took off with his wallet, according to police. No arrests have been made.

Five armed robberies have been reported since the beginning of the year, prompting police to reach out to the various late-night establishments and apartment complexes as a prevention effort.

"We really want to push information out to not just the landlords, but to the tenants as well," Minneapolis Police spokesperson John Elder said. "That's a whole area we need to really make sure is getting the information."

Police recently held a safety seminar at one of the apartment complexes in southeast Minneapolis near the U of M campus. Another event dubbed "Coffee with a Cop" is slated for Wednesday morning at the Purple Onion in Dinkytown.

The business community in Dinkytown, Stadium Village, Northeast Minneapolis and Nicollet Island participated in conversations to improve safety of students living there.

Police officers also observed students' behavior and found they're not taking the basic safety precautions. Elder said sometimes that makes them easy targets.

"People have both earbuds in, they're absolutely wrapped up in the $600 telephone that they have in their hand," he added. "Understand, nobody deserves to get robbed and we will never blame a victim, but what we want to do is we want to help with prevention for future robberies."

Correction (Feb. 1, 2016): An earlier version of this story was unclear on the location of the armed robberies. The story has been updated.