Lehigh Students Told to be Cautious After Holdups

Lehigh University students have been given warnings to be careful on the streets of South Bethlehem after three students were robbed at gunpoint Thursday night, a university official said.

The two robbers, one who brandished a weapon and put it to the temple of two of the victims' heads, demanded cash, cell phones and identification cards, according to a report on The Morning Call's Website.

In each case, the two men, who wore hoodies to obscure their faces, approached a student who was walking alone and robbed them, Bethlehem police told The Morning Call.

Lehigh University sent an e-mail alert to students warning them not to walk around the campus alone within minutes of campus police learning of the stickups, said Jennifer Tucker, the university's assistant vice president for communications.

The e-mail reminded students that they can use the university escort service if they need to walk around the campus after dark, Tucker said. The Lehigh University Police Department will send an officer to accompany lone students from one building to another.

Asked if many students use the service, Tucker said, "I don't think as many as you would think."

Tucker said the university sent out an updated e-mail alert this morning saying that there was no new information on the holdups and that the suspects had not been caught.

Lehigh has one of three campus police departments in the state that is fully accredited by the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association and the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission, Tucker said.

These particular incidents are being investigated by the city police, since they occurred off campus. Two of them occurred on the 300 block of W. Packer Ave., a few blocks west of the campus; the other occurred on the 400 block of Birkel Ave., just above the northeast corner of the campus, according to the newspaper's report.