A man was beaten and robbed near 13th Avenue Southeast early Sunday morning, according to a Minneapolis police report.

The 21-year-old victim approached three men just after 3 a.m. to ask for a cigarette when they suddenly began kicking and punching him, according to the report. The suspects then took the victim’s wallet and fled the scene in a black SUV before police arrived.

Paramedics transported the victim, who suffered bleeding from the head and facial swelling, to Hennepin County Medical Center.

A witness to the crime said she and her friends saw the three suspects surround the victim as they were walking down 13th Avenue. She said she saw one suspect punch the victim, who fell to the ground immediately.

After she and her friends turned into a parking lot to avoid the fight, she said she could hear the victim yelling that he did not have any money as the attack continued. She then saw police lights flashing down the street and notified officers of the attack.

Minneapolis police Sgt. Steve McCarty said criminals will often use “stall tactics,” such as asking for the time or offering a cigarette, to distract victims before attacking them. He added that these distractions often put potential victims at ease and take them off their guard before an attack.

Though the victim approached the suspects in this case, McCarty advises that people remain skeptical of others late at night, especially if they are alone.

“I always tell people to just say no and keep walking,” McCarty said. “Always be sure to keep an eye on whoever approached you though.”

Victim home during Marcy-Holmes burglary attempt

Suspects attempted to burglarize a woman’s home while she and her roommate were inside early Saturday morning, a Minneapolis police report said.

Breana Boesche, a senior occupational therapy student at St. Catherine University, said she was sitting in her downstairs bedroom at about 1:30 a.m. when she heard glass shattering in the living room. She thought a “picture frame had been broken,” she said, but then heard someone walk upstairs and break her roommate’s bedroom door down.

After her roommate screamed, the suspects fled the scene and police arrived shortly afterward, Boesche said. Nothing was stolen, and neither she nor her roommate was harmed.

“It was just really scary,” Boesche said.

According to the report, police later arrested one of the suspects on suspicion of burglary and fleeing from the police, but two others escaped.

McCarty said burglaries inside occupied homes are rare and burglars often enter homes without knowing someone is inside.

“Burglars are not the type of people who want to encounter others,” McCarty said.

He also said people who are home during a burglary attempt should try to avoid any conflict with the burglars but also recognize that burglars typically flee when confronted by others.

Boesche said this burglary was the third time in the last year that someone attempted to rob her or one of her roommates near their home near the intersection of 11th Avenue and Seventh Street Southeast.

She said someone broke into her house while no one was home during last year’s homecoming, and a second burglar broke into her roommate’s car over the summer.