Robbery near campus prompts lockdown

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - Christopher Newport University (CNU) was locked down for almost two hours Thursday morning after police said a man with a gun tried to rob the Virginia Educators Credit Union across the street from campus.

Two minutes after campus police learned of the robbery, they sent out the CNU E-Alert, which is a text message to students, faculty, and staff alerting them to an emergency.

"We just got a text message that said that there was a robbery at the credit union which is a few rooms down which is kind of scary," said CNU Sophomore Brandy McCarty.

McCarty is used to texting, but when she got a text message in her 8 a.m. ECON class, she was stunned by what she read.

Initial CNU Alert: "Armed robbery at CNU Village. Lock yourself into an interior room now. This is an emergency. Do not come to campus."

"I was like, 'Oh my gosh! They have a gun and we're right beside them. They could be coming right to us, you
know," said McCarty.

Freshman Chris Mogensen was in the same econ class as Brandy, just doors away from the Virginia Educators Credit Union where the armed robbery happened. A second alert told students to stay in an interior room, close windows, draw blinds, and lock and barricade doors.

"We just put a projector in front of the window so that they couldn't see and we just kind of, be quiet," said Mogensen.

Campus was locked down and so were three floors of student housing above the credit union.  While the alerts went out, police say the armed robber ran away from CNU Village in the opposite direction of campus.

When it was safe, students got the all clear on their phones. Campus police couldn't be prouder of their students and the system they say can potentially save lives.

"This has clearly proven to me that it's imperative to get these types of messages out to our community. We're talking to our students with the communication vehicle that they use and the response was just great," said CNU Police Chief Jeff Brown.

The area where the armed robbery happened, CNU Village, is not campus property. However, the campus does lease space at CNU Village for student housing and temporary classrooms. That fact, and the fact that campus is directly across the street is why police decided to send the E-alerts out and put the students on lockdown.

No one was hurt at Thursday's crime scene.

Newport News Police have released surveillance video in hopes of catching the suspect. Police say the suspect forced his way into the rear of the business as employees were entering for work. The armed suspect ordered staff to open the safe and took the cash.

The suspect (seen left) has been described as a black male, 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-11-inches tall and about 185 pounds. He wore a white or light colored shirt with a large design on the rear, blue jeans, white tennis shoes, white surgical-type gloves, a dark blue or black ball cap and a white shirt or rag around his face.  He was carrying a blue or black handbag and a dark-colored handgun police believe they recovered at the scene.

The search for the suspect is ongoing. If you have any information that could help police in this case, call Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.

Stick with WAVY.com and WAVY News 10 for more on this developing story.

On the web --

Register for campus alerts at http://cnualert.info/