When Tufts students logged into their e-mails on Monday evening, they came across their fourth public safety alert in the month of March.
The owner of a local convenience store was robbed and assaulted with a blunt object at about 11 a.m. on Monday.
The Conwell Convenience Store is located only two blocks from Tufts at the intersection of Conwell Avenue and Hillsdale Road in a Somerville neighborhood populated by many upperclassmen.
The attacker, who remains at large, entered the store and demanded money from the shopkeeper, an elderly man.
When the storeowner did not move to cooperate, the robber attacked him and stole money, Somerville Police Captain Paul Upton told the Daily.
"The proprietor didn't immediately turn over the money, called to his wife, and he was assaulted with some type of a pipe or a bar," Upton said.
The suspect quickly fled on foot in the direction of Medford. He was described as a white male, approximately six feet tall, wearing a black-and-white checkered jacket.
The storeowner, who requested anonymity in this article, was transported to a local hospital. He was treated and released, and has since returned to work.
Upton said he was surprised that such a violent crime had occurred in this neighborhood. "This is an unusual event in that area," he said.
"I don't think I've ever seen the type of robbery in that area. I've worked that area a lot in the past, so it's an unusual event," he said.
Students said the event, however unexpected, was unsettling.
Junior Lori Agulian lives at 24 Curtis Ave., approximately one block from the convenience store. "That does shock me to hear that it happened so close to my house," she said.
Agulian said she no longer feels comfortable walking alone at night in the areas surrounding campus. She mentioned a number of recent incidences of violent crime. "With that and what happened with [armed robbery victim and junior] Jason [Safer], it certainly does scare me," she said.
"I don't even try to walk home alone late at night, and when I do I try to get an escort. And the one time I did [walk home alone recently] the stabbing occurred," she added, referring to the knifing of sophomore Dan Stebbins last week. She said that that altercation had taken place within minutes of when she walked home.
Junior William Herbert, who lives at 14 Curtis Ave., said that the growing pattern of violent crime near his house has begun to trouble him. "It's easy to dismiss the first one or two incidents, but when it starts to become a pattern it gets very worrying," he said.
A personal experience last year caused Herbert, known to friends as Fax, to alter his habits. "Over the summer my roommate and I didn't even lock our doors, but one of our cars actually got broken into, and after that it kind of shook us up," he said. "With this pattern of violent crime, I'm very unsettled by it, especially because I'm going to be continuing to live in this neighborhood next year."
