Cops: Decatur High students robbed near school after game

Decatur police are investigating three armed robberies that occurred Friday night of Decatur High School students who were leaving a football game.

In each case, the victims were robbed of their cell phones. No one was hurt.

A school district spokesperson told Channel 2 Action News Saturday the three separate incidents did not take place at the school but in the city after the game.

“The school system is concerned about these incidents and will continue to work with the city police to ensure the safety of the children,” spokesperson Courtney Burnett said.

In the first incident, the victim told police he and a friend were leaving the football game around 9:45 p.m. when they passed the two suspects. One suspect asked the victim for the time and the victim removed his cell phone from his pocket and provided the time. Minutes later, the victim and his friend were walking past Renfroe Middle School when the suspects ran up behind the victim. One suspect grabbed the victim by his shoulder while the second suspect pressed a small silver semi-automatic handgun to the victim’s back and demanded his phone. The victim gave him his iPhone 4 and the suspects fled south on Adams Street.

At 10:25 p.m., the victim in the second incident said she was walking on a path near Decatur High talking on her phone when she saw one suspect in front of her. The second suspect came up behind her. The first suspect pressed an unknown object to her neck and the second one grabbed her neck in the crook of his arm from behind. The suspects took her bag and iPhone 5, pushed her to the ground and fled, she told police.

The last incident happened at 10:40 p.m. The victim was walking with four friends near the Decatur High gym when three suspects approached them. The first suspect asked the victim for the time. The victim removed his cell phone from his pocket and provided the time. The suspect then grabbed the victim in a choke hold and demanded the phone. The victim refused and the second suspect pressed a small black semi-automatic handgun to the victim’s neck and the victim relinquished his iPhone4.

The suspects in each of the cases were described as young men in their late teens and early 20s.