With the new school semester in full swing, Police Beat is back to detail all of the happenings across our campus. Incidents from the last month range from assaults by a gang of cowboys,
burglarizing our beloved bike repair station and students sending panic-inducing AI pranks to their families. The September Police Beat is here to help you stay informed so that you can stay prepared and safe.
Victim violently jumped in Tyndall Garage by gang of “cowboys”
On Sept. 13, the University of Arizona Police Department was notified at 2:08 a.m. that a male walking down Tyndall Avenue was covered in blood. Officers made contact with him near Coronado Residence Hall. The victim, covered in dried blood, had a one-inch deep laceration above both of his eyebrows and an additional quarter-inch one below his right eye.
The victim said he was jumped by four men who inflicted the injuries. UAPD determined that the crime had occurred on the northwest side of Tyndall Avenue Garage on the first level based on blood they found. Tucson Fire Department and UA Emergency Medical Services treated the victim’s wounds.
The attackers were described as ‘white, college-aged cowboys wearing jeans and cowboy boots,’ according to UAPD.
Student pranks father with a fake image of dorm room being visited by a strange man
On Sept. 30, UAPD reported that a man had called them after receiving a picture from his daughter, a UA student, of a homeless male knocking on the door to her dorm room at Árbol de la Vida Residence Hall. The man called shortly after, saying that the image of the homeless man was fake, and that his daughter had sent it to him as a prank.
UAPD believes that the image may have been AI-generated, possibly for a TikTok or Instagram prank. The Dean of Students Office was alerted for a code of conduct violation.
On-campus assaults in September
On Sept. 12 at 2:25 a.m., a UA student and her sister, not a UA student, were both pushed in the hallway of Coronado Residence Hall by an unidentified female who attacked them. Dorm security cameras show that the attacker slapped one sister and pushed the other, who pushed the attacker in return. The cameras also appear to show a group of males instigating the fight. Residential assistants are reportedly in the process of identifying the attacker.
On Sept. 12 at 2:30 a.m., two males not affiliated with the UA were waiting inside Navajo-Pinal Residence Hall for a student to retrieve some clothes from inside. They were approached by a resident who told the victims that they did not belong there. One victim was held in a chokehold and escaped while the other was pushed against a wall. The two men left the dorm to avoid further escalation.
On Sept. 25 at 2:35 a.m., UAPD responded to a fight at Posada San Pedro Residence Hall. An intoxicated minor reportedly assaulted three individuals and was arrested for assault and minor in possession charges. The attacker was booked at Pima County Jail and a referral was sent to the Dean of Students Office.
On Sept. 28, a man was physically attacked from behind at 1:30 a.m. at McClelland Park. The victim sustained a black eye and bloody nose, with clear fluid draining from one nostril. The victim is likely unaffiliated with the UA. He was admitted to a hospital later that day, where the staff reported the assault to UAPD.
Koffler Bike Station burglarized
On Sept. 29, a burglary was reported at the bicycle repair tent outside of the Henry Koffler Building. The burglary had occurred some time over the weekend from 2:00 pm on Sept. 26 and Sept. 29 at 10:45 a.m.
Three cabinets used to store bike tubes and repair equipment were broken into and an estimated total of $80 worth of equipment was stolen. UAPD made a request to check the camera footage.
Car, bike & scooter theft cost students
In the month of September, four bike thefts and four e-scooter thefts were reported to UAPD. One of these reports, on Sept. 25, detailed an e-scooter stolen from the bike racks south of the Physics-Atmospheric Sciences building after the lock was cut at 4:44 p.m. The airtag in the scooter pinged an area approximately two miles away from where the theft occurred, which led to the citation and release for theft of a male not affiliated with the UA who was found in possession of the stolen scooter. The man was issued a 12-month exclusionary order and the scooter was returned to the student who owned it.
Out of five motor-vehicle theft incidents reported last month, two resulted in loss of expensive technology.
On Sept. 10, a UA student reported that her car had been broken into at Park Avenue Garage. She parked there at 9:15 p.m. the previous night and returned at 5:00 a.m. that morning to retrieve her laptop from the car only to find that it had been stolen in a break-in. Also taken were two bottles of the victim’s prescription medication. The laptop was worth approximately $1,000. There are no suspects or leads.
Two days later, on Sept. 12, a UA student parked her car at Cherry Avenue Garage at 4:00 p.m. and returned at 10:10 p.m. to find that a portion of the rear passenger window had been broken into. An AMP and a Subwoofer were stolen from the trunk, worth about $900. Additionally, the rubber latches to the hood had been undone and the wires to the battery had been cut.
