Jennifer witnessed one of three assaults that took place late Saturday evening in the University Heights.
She was walking with two of her male friends on Winspear Avenue when two men confronted the group and attacked her two friends.
The assailants were confrontational and told her friends to empty their pockets before punching one in the face, knocking him out and knocking the other to the pavement with blows to the face and ribs.
Three assaults occurred near South Campus on Saturday night. Six students were attacked.
"I think [the suspects] just heard about a college party and came down thinking they were going to pickpocket a couple people," Jennifer said.
Jennifer, a sophomore psychology and communication major who did not want to share her last name, said the victims were a freshman mechanical engineering major and a sophomore visiting from Finger Lakes Community College.
Jennifer met up with a UB student after he left a party on Northrup Avenue. He told her people's phones were being stolen out of their pockets.
They were walking to their friend's house "less than a block away from the Mobil station" on the corner of Main Street and Winspear Avenue.
As they walked down Winspear, Jennifer said there was a group of four or five college-aged people saying things to her. One of her friends was yelling back at them and being "overly friendly," she said.
At that point, two other men on the other side of the street began yelling as well, and when Jennifer's friend yelled back, the men appeared to take it as provocation, Jennifer said.
The men approached them, one of them sprinting across the street directly approaching Jennifer's friends.
They tried to assure the men they didn't want any trouble and were only trying to go to a friend's house. The men then demanded her friends empty their pockets. When the victims didn't comply, the assailants punched them - knocking both down and one unconscious.
The two robbers then took $40, a cell phone, an ATM card and a UB student ID from the unconscious victim's pockets. The victim who was punched in the ribs was not robbed. The suspects fled when they saw cars coming down Winspear Avenue.
Jennifer's friend who retained consciousness said one of the men might have had a knife.
"The whole time there were four or five guys on the other side of the street and they're just laughing and yelling stuff out," Jennifer said. "They're just watching this whole thing happen."
With the help of her conscious friend, Jennifer dragged her unconscious friend down Winspear Avenue to a friend's house - their intended destination. They contacted the police when they arrived.
Jennifer said it took the police less than five minutes to respond and someone followed up on Sunday and asked her to describe the men again.
She said the police told her an hour before her group was assaulted, two men fitting the same description stole a wallet and phone near the same intersection and assaulted three women.
In one of those previous incidents, the male suspect left his bronze-colored Chevrolet Blazer and approached the victim with a knife. The suspect searched the victim's pockets and wallet, stole an iPhone, went back into his vehicle and sped north on Main Street, according to The Buffalo News.
University Police said in the third incident, one of the three females who was assaulted also had her cell phone stolen at a house party.
No one was seriously injured in any of the incidents, according to University Police (UPD) Chief Gerald Schoenle.
Despite the incident, Jennifer said she will still spend time around South Campus. She thinks the assailants did not know the area well because they were less than 1,000 feet from a gas station where police often patrol on the weekends. She thinks the suspects came to the area to exploit college students' naivety.
At the time this article was printed, UPD had no new information regarding the incidents. Buffalo Police Spokesman Michael DeGeorge could not be reached for comment despite several attempts.
Email: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
