RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - Richmond police say two people were robbed at gunpoint on West Marshall Street, near the VCU campus, late Friday night.
"It's kind of unsettling that we have so much crime here," VCU student Gregory Golter said.
"It doesn't exactly surprise me," Westbrook Robinson, another VCU student, said. "I knew before moving here that Richmond is a pretty violent city," he added. "But it does surprise me that it happened so close."
"We weren't told anything," Terence Carmichael, Jr., a VCU student, said. "Usually we get text alerts if anything happens."
Lately, VCU students have been getting a slew of emergency texts and emails because of the number of crimes in and around the campus.
However, a VCU spokesperson said they did not issue an emergency alert because the suspects were no longer in the area and no longer posed an immediate threat to the community.
Richmond police have increased patrol in the Fan district and in the Carver neighborhood where the crimes have been reported to keep more eyes on the streets. Even though some students said they have seen more officers patrolling the streets, they still wonder if they will be targets for thieves.
"It does make a lot of sense because a lot of times people will walk around without paying attention to their surroundings," Robinson said.
"I guess like we may have valuables, but we're kind of just paying for tuition," Carmichael said. "So we don't have a lot on us as far as like credentials and just money walking around," he added.
Officials are searching for suspects. They are described as two black males between the ages of 25 and 30 years old dressed in dark clothing. Police say at least one of them is armed.
