INITIAL ALERTEmail
UConn Alert — Timely Warning Notice — Armed Robbery and Motor Vehicle Theft
The University of Connecticut Police Department is issuing this Timely Warning Notice to inform the campus community of an armed robbery and motor vehicle theft that occurred earlier this evening on the Storrs campus.
On Thursday, January 5, 2023, shortly after 5:00 p.m., two males armed with handguns approached an occupied vehicle parked in the Hilltop Apartments parking lot near Novello Hall. The suspects displayed handguns, demanded money from the occupants, and ordered the occupants out of the vehicle. The victims, who are UConn students, exited the vehicle without injury. The suspects then fled the campus in the stolen vehicle.
The stolen vehicle is described as a gray 2018 Chevy Trax SUV.
Suspect Descriptions:
- Two males, late teens to 20s
- One described as a Black male wearing a red hooded sweatshirt and a face covering
This Timely Warning is being issued in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.
Anyone with information regarding this incident should contact UConn Police at 860-486-4800 or 911.
This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.
Reconstructed from Fox61, WTNH, and NBC Connecticut coverage; the time (shortly after 5 p.m.), location (Hilltop Apartments near Novello Hall), vehicle (gray 2018 Chevy Trax), and suspect description are corroborated across multiple sources
Hilltop Apartments is a UConn-owned upper-class residential complex on the Storrs campus
The 5:00 p.m. timing — early evening, daylight in winter just ending — is unusual for an armed campus robbery and signaled an elevated continuing threat
The case resolved when [Hartford Police pursued the stolen vehicle](https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/hartford/car-stolen-at-gunpoint-leads-hartford-police-on-chase/) the same day, leading to a crash and arrest of Jadin Roberts, 18, of Hartford; the BMW X5 the suspects had used to arrive at the Storrs campus was itself a stolen vehicle from an earlier Hartford carjacking that same day
Carjacking/armed robbery on a residential college campus in Storrs (a relatively rural location) is rare and drove significant local news coverage