Two robberies happened last week at the same place within two hours.

According to police reports, at about 11 p.m. on Feb. 22 two suspects tried to rob a man at gunpoint by the corner of Second Avenue Southeast and Sixth Street Southeast.

The man was threatened and grabbed, but got away without injury, said Ron Reier, public information officer for the Minneapolis Police Department. The suspects also got away.

Later, at about 1 a.m. on Feb. 23, three people, two of whom are students, had a similar encounter.

They were threatened with a gun. One of the students was struck with the gun and his wallet was taken, Reier said. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center for a cut on his forehead.

Reier said it looks like there were two suspects who were working that area.

Tom Lincoln, volunteer chairman of the safety and livability committee for the Marcy-

Holmes Neighborhood Association, said crime has increased in the neighborhood since late fall.

But it has increased everywhere, he said.

Lincoln said a lot of times the victims are students and that crimes typically happen late at night and on the weekends.

Vehicle theft suspect identified

Officers were dispatched to 24th Avenue Southeast at about midnight Monday because of a suspicious vehicle.

According to reports, police confirmed the vehicle had been stolen Feb. 10 in St. Paul.

Reier said that when officers arrived at the house, the suspect would not open the door, but rather watched as the stolen car was towed away.

According to the report, the same suspect had been seen removing the same stolen license plates off another vehicle earlier in the evening. This vehicle also was towed.

Reier said that even though motor vehicle theft is a felony, it’s not a dangerous one involving a weapon, so police don’t have the right to “bust in the house and capture the suspect.”

The case will be presented to the county attorney for potential charges before the county attorney issues an arrest warrant.

“He may have gotten away with it for a little while, but not for a long while,” Reier said.

Vehicle break-ins

Between Saturday and Sunday, three cars were broken into near Bailey Hall on the St. Paul campus.

The officer took a report at parking lot SC175 from a student who parked in the student contract parking lot while visiting a friend. When he came back to his car, the front passenger window was smashed and his CD/MP3 player was missing.

While Benson was taking the report, he noticed another vehicle parked in the middle of the same lot with the driver’s door window broken.

According to the report, the officer called the owner of the vehicle to tell him. The student who drives the car was missing his CD player, a case of CDs, sunglasses and his hockey bag with equipment.

Steve Johnson, deputy police chief for the University, said lot SC175 has gotten “hit” with theft from cars before, and it typically happens to more than one car.

Johnson said this could be because the cars sit a lot longer and thieves could be watching the lot.

The same officer also took a report earlier that a vehicle was broken into by Cleveland Avenue North.

The driver’s door window was broken and the CD system was taken. The trunk also was opened and two rear mounted speakers were taken.

The victim said he just installed a new audio/pager alarm system because his car had been stolen two weeks earlier while parked near Cleveland Avenue North.

The victim said he did not receive a page and the University police dispatch found no calls regarding an auto alarm sounding.