<p>BREAKING NEWS: Student robbed at gunpoint on South 40</p>
<p>by Perry Stein and Puneet Kollipara</p>
<p>A female freshman was robbed at gunpoint on the South 40 Friday night while walking in the area directly north of Park House, according to the Washington University Police Department. At about 7:40 p.m., a man approached the student, pointed a gun at her and took her purse. The mugger fled and she was uninjured.</p>
<p>bummer....</p>
<p>How sad (and terrifying for the students). We loved the WashU campus & thought it seemed quite safe ... would not have thought walking alone at that time of night would have been a problem. Then again, crime can happen ANYWHERE.</p>
<p>This kind of stuff happens at Northwestern too and way more often than one would expect because of how nice Evanston downtown and the area surrounding NU looks. The western part of Evanston has some "questionable" areas and the neighborhood just south of Evanston (part of Chicago) is "so-so". Criminals are mobile and a nice area nearby is a natural and easy target.</p>
<p>The timing is very unusual. In general college muggings happen late at night, usually to drunk people. I have a friend who was mugged at gunpoint, but it was about 2 AM. </p>
<p>Around my college almost all muggings are unarmed, or the assailant has a fake weapon. Do they know that the man was actually armed? </p>
<p>As others have pointed out, these things can happen anywhere. The best thing to do is stay calm and hand over money. If you're in a more dangerous neighborhood, carry a fake wallet with $40 or $50 but without valuable credit cards, SS card, or driver's license.</p>
<p>^ you should never carry your SS card with you anyway</p>