Georgia Tech student beaten, robbed in dorm room

Colleges & Universities A-Z Georgia Institute of Technology
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<p>Terrible story. I hope he's alright. Crime on campus overall is down, but violent crime is up. Tech</a> student beaten, robbed in dorm room | ajc.com</p>

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A Georgia Tech student escaped serious injury Monday night when he was pistol-whipped and robbed in his dorm room.</p>

<p>According to a crime alert posted online by Georgia Tech police, the incident happened about 10 p.m. Monday on the fourth floor of the North Avenue Apartments South Building.</p>

<p>The victim told police that he was robbed by four males who followed him into his dorm room.</p>

<p>Two of the suspects were wearing Halloween masks, while a third was wearing a ski mask, according to Tech police. At least one of the men was armed with a handgun.</p>

<p>The student, 19-year-old Justin Myers, received minor injuries, but refused treatment.</p>

<p>Myers told Channel 2 Action News that his assailants pushed him to the floor and pistol-whipped him, knocking out a tooth.</p>

<p>"He hit me one time and I went to the ground," Myers told the TV station. "I wasn't trying to resist. One of them just held a gun to me whe whole time, just hitting and kicking me."</p>

<p>Myers told Channel 2 that the suspects were his apartment for about a half hour, ransacking the room and looking for anything of value.</p>

<p>They made him take off his clothes and stole his laptop, cellphone and a roommate's flat screen television.</p>

<p>Myers was the fourth Tech student to be robbed on or near the northwest Atlanta campus in just over a month.</p>

<p>On Dec. 5, a male student had parked his car on Hunnicutt Street south of campus and was removing items from the back seat when he was struck in the back of the head.</p>

<p>"When he turned, he observed two males armed with handguns," Tech police said in a crime alert. "One male pointed a handgun and demanded the student's property."</p>

<p>That student was not injured.</p>

<p>On Nov. 11, two male students were tied up and robbed during a home invasion at their house on Ethel Street, in the Home Park neighborhood just north of the Tech campus. The victims were struck by the three suspects, but were not seriously injured, according to Tech police.

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<p>^how do you not notice 4 people following you? That’s why you dont stay on campus during break!poor kid :(</p>

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<p>^ he shoulda known especially since they are wearing Halloween masks. he shoulda just walked toward somebody/a group of people or the street if there are cars around or yelled instead of just continuing to walk to his room.</p>

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<p>I am appalled by the “blame the victim” remarks so far. I realize that that response is a way of rationalizing that it will never happen to you, but that doesn’t excuse that approach.</p>

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<p>If you’re walking to your dorm room, and four guys in masks are following you, there are two things you can do: 1) try to get into your room and lock the door before they can get to you. It’s unlikely that they’ll try to break in the door since that will bring too much attention to them. 2) keep walking past your room and try to find a public space. They might still rob you, but if you’re in a public place, they’ll want to rob you quickly and move on (basically take your wallet). And even if they wanted to hang around, good luck finding the room to steal the contents. We don’t know his situation to know if it was smarter for this person to try for 1) or 2). But either way, in that sort of situation, most people are primarily concerned about bodily harm and will tend towards putting a door between them and the suspicious people.</p>

<p>Also, you have to consider that he might not have seen them, especially if they came from around a corner or stairwell. They could have waited on him to open the door then walked in before his door could shut.</p>

<p>The real problem with that scenario is that the gates to that complex are one-at-a-time entry. Someone used their buzzcards to let those guys in the complex, and then in the building.</p>

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<p>^North Ave is pretty easy to get in. If someone is leaving through the push button open thing it is pretty easy to get in (I know from experience because I have friends who live there that I visit). And then you just have to wait for a student to open the door to the actual building. But who could have left them in? I don’t think there would be many people around well into break. But also you have to take an elevator up to your floor. So, they would have actually had to be in the elevator with him (13 or something floors) to be able to find him. If they just went to hang out on a random floor they would really have a chance at finding someone who was still living there.</p>

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<p>How safe is this place?</p>

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<p>well it is in the middle of atlanta…</p>

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<p>Georgia Tech campus is safe during the school year. Georgia Tech is deserted during break though.</p>

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<p>That article mentioned 3 other students that were involved in aggravated assaults during the semester.</p>

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<p>as I said before, Georgia Tech CAMPUS is safe during the school year. Those three other events happened off campus at night.</p>

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<p>Those other three victims were robbed at gunpoint across the street from campus and were only technically not on campus (the incident in Home Park was between the GT buildings on 10th Street and 14th Street and the Hunnicutt Street incident was within 25 feet of the North Ave apartments).</p>

<p>But if you want a robbery on campus during the day, try this one: [Georgia</a> Tech employee robbed on campus | ajc.com](<a href=“http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/georgia-tech-employee-robbed-93863.html]Georgia”>http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/georgia-tech-employee-robbed-93863.html)</p>

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<p>I used to work there in the 90s. It used to be a deserted campus past 5pm. I never used to stay beyond 5pm. I was told the situation changed after the Olympics. Have not been to the campus since I left there.</p>

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<p>Where I work (on Ferst Drive) is pretty safe most of the day. I’m never the only one in the area if I’m leaving the lab at midnight, for example. The problem is south of campus, really, which used to be section 8 housing and never really shed its “hood” reputation. I would feel incredibly unsafe living at North Ave.</p>

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<p>As I said before, Georgia tech is perfectly safe on campus, DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR, when it is not completely deserted. This would have never been able to happen if there were actually more then a couple people living in North Ave.</p>

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<p>def. changed since the 90’s. personally, i think CAMPUS is safe day and night all year long, with the exception of longer breaks. Even then, i still think it is relatively safe. lots of international students stay for winter break.</p>

<p>once you go north or south though, it gets kinda sketchy. not like you’re def. gonna get shot/mugged kind of sketchy, but it is just underdeveloped and kinda deserted. just be aware of your surroundings when you walk through any of those areas.</p>

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<p>when i came to tech, i was actually kinda worried about safety. Now, I don’t worry about it that much.</p>

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<p>Aren’t all floors of all buildings impossible to scale without a pass-card/key? Seems these four would never have been able to go up the elevator. Same should be to enter at any level using the stairs. </p>

<p>Also, don’t all the buildings have double entrances [pass-card/key required to open doors at each?] with cameras everywhere to document who is going in and out of the building at all times? Tech needs to have the same level of campus security as does Penn, USC, Johns Hopkins and other prominant universities in very tough cities…</p>