{
  "id": "2019-11-09-sfsu-bus-stop-phone-robbery",
  "slug": "sfsu-bus-stop-phone-robbery-2019-11-09",
  "institution": {
    "name": "San Francisco State University",
    "shortName": "SF State",
    "state": "CA",
    "type": "public-masters",
    "alertSystemName": "SF State University Police Timely Warning",
    "enrollment": 27000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2019-11-09",
    "type": "robbery",
    "cleryCategory": "timely-warning",
    "resolution": "under-investigation",
    "headline": "Texting at the Bus Stop: SF State's Clery Timely Warning for a Daylight Phone Snatch at 19th and Holloway",
    "summary": "On the morning of November 9, 2019, a person waiting for a bus at 19th Avenue and Holloway Avenue, directly in front of San Francisco State University's HSS Building, had his cell phone forcibly taken from his hands as he was texting, then watched the suspect run onto campus. The [SF State University Police Department issued a Clery timely warning](https://upd.sfsu.edu/archived-timely-warnings-2019) describing the robbery, the suspect, and his flight route across the campus. No weapon was seen, and the suspect was not apprehended.",
    "outcome": "The suspect fled southbound on 19th Avenue, then westbound between the HSS Building and the Science Building onto the SFSU campus. University Police increased patrols in the area and asked anyone with information to call (415) 338-2222. No arrest was reported.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "Issued the day of the robbery, November 9, 2019, following the approximately 10:40 AM PST report",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "On 11/09/2019 at approximately 10:40 AM, a robbery occurred at the bus stop located at 19th Avenue and Holloway Avenue in front of the HSS Building. The victim reported that at approximately 10:15 AM while he was waiting for the bus, an unknown suspect approached him and forcibly took his cell phone from his hands as he was texting. The suspect then ran southbound on 19th Avenue then turned and ran westbound between the HSS Building and the Science Building onto the SFSU campus. The victim and witness described the suspect as male adult wearing a grey jacket and grey pants. No weapons were seen or mentioned during the robbery. UPD has increased patrols in the area in response to the incident and encourages SF State community members to remain alert and observant.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://upd.sfsu.edu/archived-timely-warnings-2019",
      "sourceDescription": "SF State University Police Department, Archived Timely Warnings - 2019",
      "annotations": [
        "Text recovered from the SF State UPD official 2019 timely-warning archive page; the host 403-blocks automated fetching, so the wording was reconstructed from repeated, identical search-engine excerpts of that official page rather than a direct page load",
        "The warning distinguishes the report time (approximately 10:40 AM PST) from the victim's stated time of the crime (approximately 10:15 AM PST) — a careful Clery-compliant separation of when the incident occurred versus when it was reported",
        "Despite a snatch-and-grab of a phone from the victim's hands, UPD correctly classified the incident as a robbery (a Clery-reportable crime requiring a timely warning) rather than a theft, because force was used to take the property"
      ],
      "characterCount": 773
    }
  ],
  "context": "[San Francisco State University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_State_University) is a large public master's-granting institution in the California State University system, with roughly 27,000 students on a campus wedged between 19th Avenue and the Stonestown / Park Merced district in southwest San Francisco. The 19th Avenue corridor and the bus stops feeding Muni and SamTrans riders are heavily trafficked by students and non-students alike, and have long been a recurring location for street robberies. On November 9, 2019, a man waiting at the 19th Avenue and Holloway Avenue bus stop in front of the HSS Building had his phone snatched from his hands as he texted; the suspect fled onto the SFSU campus itself, prompting a [Clery timely warning from the SF State University Police Department](https://upd.sfsu.edu/archived-timely-warnings-2019). SF State's student newspaper, the Golden Gate Xpress, has [documented a running pattern of armed and strong-arm robberies near the campus](https://goldengatexpress.org/113619/campus/string-of-armed-robberies-near-campus-raises-concerns/) and the University Police practice of notifying the community by university-wide email. This case preserves the verbatim text of one such warning for a comparatively minor but Clery-reportable robbery — the kind of routine timely warning that rarely makes the news but defines the day-to-day texture of campus Clery compliance.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "A phone snatched directly from a victim's hands is a robbery — not a theft — under Clery because force was used, which is why SF State UPD issued a full timely warning for what might superficially look like a minor property crime",
    "The warning carefully separates the report time (approximately 10:40 AM PST) from the victim's stated crime time (approximately 10:15 AM PST), modeling the Clery distinction between when an incident occurs and when it is reported",
    "The suspect's flight path 'westbound between the HSS Building and the Science Building onto the SFSU campus' is the kind of specific, navigable detail that makes a timely warning actionable for readers who know the campus"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Archived Timely Warnings - 2019 (SF State University Police Department)",
      "url": "https://upd.sfsu.edu/archived-timely-warnings-2019",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Timely Warnings (SF State University Police Department)",
      "url": "https://upd.sfsu.edu/timely-warnings-0",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "String of armed robberies near campus raises concerns (Golden Gate Xpress)",
      "url": "https://goldengatexpress.org/113619/campus/string-of-armed-robberies-near-campus-raises-concerns/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "robbery",
    "timely-warning",
    "clery",
    "phone-theft",
    "bus-stop",
    "public-masters",
    "california",
    "csu",
    "san-francisco",
    "daylight-robbery"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-06-20",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-06-20",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}