Police arrested a former Gopher men’s basketball player for attempted robbery on Nov. 21.

According to the court complaint filed Nov. 22, authorities charged Shane Schilling with attempted simple robbery, which is a felony. If convicted, Schilling could face up to five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

Schilling spent the holiday weekend in jail. He remains in custody on $1,000 bail with conditions, said a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. Those conditions include having no contact with the victim, the spokesperson said.

The victim, University graduate student Joshua Adam, said he finished his shift at the Starbucks on Washington Avenue Southeast at about 11:15 p.m. Nov. 21 and set his bag down to unlock his bicycle.

While he fumbled for his keys, a man – later identified as Schilling – grabbed his bag and ran off, Adam said.

He said he had a lot of valuables in the bag, so he chased the thief down.

When Adam managed to wrestle the bag away, Schilling whirled around and punched him in the face, breaking his glasses and leaving a cut over his left eye, Adam said.

“Then he just walked away,” he said.

The incident happened just 50 feet away from the University police station and within minutes, police were on Schilling’s trail.

Adam said the police caught Schilling about four blocks away and found three laptops in his bag and a knife in his pocket.

Schilling appeared to be on his way home after a “stealing spree,” Adam said, and Schilling may have targeted him as a crime of opportunity.

“The thought had never crossed my mind that I could be a victim,” Adam said, “because it’s right there in front of the police station.”

Schilling played basketball for the Gophers for two seasons before a suspension in 2001 for violation of team rules, said Kyle Coughlin, the University’s interim director of athletic communications. He said Schilling transferred to a school in California following the suspension.

On Monday, the court assigned a public defender to Schilling, who will appear in court again on Dec. 21, said the attorney’s office spokesperson.

Wedding guest assaulted

A man was assaulted while standing outside a Somali wedding celebration early Saturday on 27th Avenue Southeast and University Avenue Southeast, Minneapolis police Lt. Greg Reinhardt said.

At about 1:45 a.m., four or five men got out of a red car and attacked the wedding guest, Reinhardt said. The assailants stabbed the victim twice in the back and hit him with a baseball bat before getting back in the car and fleeing, police said.

The incident doesn’t appear to be a random act, Reinhardt said.

“But it is not known whether the suspects knew the victim,” he said.

The victim suffered significant but non-life-threatening injuries and received treatment at Hennepin County Medical Center, Reinhardt said.

There have been no arrests in the case.