Emily Forschen
A purchase exchange initiated online led to an unidentified student having her purse and several items taken from her at gun point on campus the night of Aug. 22. She escaped without any physical harm and the assailants got away.
Roanna Bennie, the school’s interim president, informed the school of the incident via email on Aug. 23. The woman, a Las Positas student whose name has not been released, found a buyer for the purse online. The two parties arranged to meet near the San Francisco Premium Outlets for the exchange. She took her boyfriend with her but the purchaser never showed.
She and her boyfriend went to Las Positas and he attended his class while she waited in the car. That is when the robber approached her with a gun. He demanded she hand over multiple items and open the trunk of her car, where the purse she intended to sell was located. The robber fled alongside an accomplice towards the Shea Homes complex near the school’s vineyard.
“It appears that the thieves followed them from the arranged buying location to the LPC parking lot,” Bennie said in the campus-wide email.
The woman contacted Campus Security and the woman’s boyfriend, then Campus Security called Livermore Police. The campus was not put on lockdown because authorities determined the threat had moved quickly away from campus.
According to Bennie’s update, the school believes this was an isolated incident and not an armed robber lurking on campus preying on students. Campus Security has been responsive to anyone seeking help or asking for additional presence in the lots.
“The students were unharmed though quite shaken, and we have offered resources for them,” Bennie said. “Our hearts go out to them.”
