CHS has confirmed details of the Monday night armed robbery in which we reported a woman had her purse stolen at gunpoint near Summit and Union but police tell us that the subsequent arrest at the apartment building near 18th and E. Howell was not related to the mugging. 

According to SPD spokesperson Jeff Kappel, the exact location of the hold-up was a few blocks away at Summit and Spring. As we reported, Kappel said the woman was walking around 10:45 PM when she was approached by a man holding a black pistol who demanded she hand over everything she had. The woman told police she handed over her bag, her cell phone and her bank card to the man who quickly left the scene, Kappel said. Kappel also confirmed the suspect description: a black male, late teens to early 20s, around 6’0″ tall. The radio reports also noted that the man was wearing a white bandanna on his head.

Kappel said the scene that occurred at the 18th and Howell apartment was related to a stolen vehicle that was spotted driving in the area but could not yet provide further information on the incident. Via Facebook, CHS received a tip that “10-15 cop cars” were at the apartment building and that one person had been arrested.

Meanwhile, CHS has learned of three more street robberies on the Hill in March — and more might still show up as the final SPD reports for the month are released. We reported last week that robbery on the Hill had jumped in March to eleven incidents — up from eight in February and seven in January. The reports below push the March total to at least 14.

• Olive stick-up — March 20, midnight, 14th Ave at E. Olive St: A man came into East Precinct headquarters on Sunday the 21st to report that he had been robbed on the street the night before by a man who walked up behind him, pushed something into the man’s back and demanded money. The man said he could not tell if it was a gun but he complied, pulling $15 from his pocket and throwing it to the ground. The thief picked up the bills and ran away, the man told police. According to the police report on the incident, the man described the suspect as a black male wearing dark clothing.
• Double bag theft — March 26, 12:35 AM, Harvard Ave E. at E. Mercer: According to the SPD incident report, a woman told police she was walking when she was approached by three men. One of the men asked the woman for directions to Dick’s Drive-In. She told them which way to go and started walking away when she said she was grabbed from behind. She told police that the men grabbed at the two bags she had on her shoulders, pulled her to the ground as they ripped the bags away, and ran westbound on Mercer. The woman called police who conducted an area search but could not turn up the suspects. The woman described the men as three unknown race males between 20 and 30 years old. The report does not note if the woman suffered any injuries in the mugging.
• Purse snatch — March 26, 3:05 AM, 300 block E. Pine: A woman told police she hid underneath a car to escape a violent attack after being jumped by two men on E. Pine. The woman said she was walking home on E. Pine after drinking with friends on Broadway when she was attacked. According to the SPD report on the incident, the woman said she was jumped as she sent a text while standing along E. Pine not long after her friends had left to go home in another direction. The woman said she was suddenly pushed to the ground and two men stood over her and began kicking her in the head while yelling, “Give me the purse and phone!”The woman said she told the men to “just take it” and then felt the man who had been kicking her stop and rip away her bag. According to the report, the woman sought refuge under a car parked near the attack. From beneath the car, the woman told police she could see the men running westbound on Pine across I-5. The report says the woman called 911 after finding her cell phone on the sidewalk when she came out from under the car. Responding officers conducted an area search but the suspects were not located. The woman described the man who kicked her as a black male, 6’1″ with a thin build and wearing a black hat, a black t-shirt and dark blue jeans at the time of the attack. The woman said the other man was also a black male, tall and thin and approximately 20 years old.