3 teens arrested in attack on Tech student

Police say they arrested three teenagers for shooting and kidnapping a Georgia Tech student, but several other suspects remain at large.

"We're still having robberies even though they are in jail," said Atlanta Police Major Joseph Spillane, assistant commander of Zone 5.

On Tuesday, Georgia Tech and Atlanta Police officials announced they would deploy more officers around campus after a string of armed robberies.

They declined to say how many extra officers or what they will be doing, saying it is part of a covert operation.

"There will be road blocks, safety checkpoints and heavy traffic enforcement," Spillane said. "You will see an increase of officers in the area, but there will also be officers you won't see."

In addition to the extra officers, police said they have arrested three teenagers for an attack on Tech student Patrick Whaley.

The 22-year-old student was attacked last month as he was getting out of his car at the Tivoli Tenside Apartments at 1000 Northside Drive. The suspects were rummaging through Whaley's pockets when a couple walked out of the elevator and interrupted the robbery, he told police.

The suspects robbed the couple and shot Whaley in the chest, according to a police report. They then fled in the couple's car, police said.

On June 10, police arrested Deangelo Love, 17, and Maurice Brown, 19, for that attack. They are being held without bond in the Fulton County jail on charges of aggravated assault, armed robbery and kidnapping. Love is also charged with several other charges, including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Police declined to identify the third suspect. He is being held on unrelated charges and has a warrant for the student's shooting pending, Atlanta Police spokesman Officer Eric Schwartz said.

It is unclear why police waited until Tuesday to announce the arrests.

Police are looking to see if the suspects are connected to any other crimes. Investigators initially said there was a "strong possibility" they are connected to the shooting of Georgia State University student Carsten Singh. Singh, 22, was shot and robbed about 22 hours before Whaley at an apartment complex about half a mile away, police said.

The arrest announcement comes as police are investigating another armed robbery of Tech student at the Centennial Place Apartments.

The graduate student, whose name has not been released, was walking on Luckie Street when a black male in his early 20s approached with a gun, Schwartz said.

A neighbor saw the robbery in progress and screamed, scaring off the gunman. The student was not injured.

Graduate student Andrew deRussy said some students feel they are targeted because criminals may know they are unarmed. The university prohibits students from carry firearms.

"We feel we're walking targets," said deRussy, a Student Government Association representative. "Most of the students come from the Cobb Counties of the world -- suburbia and places where you don't lock your doors and don't think about it."

Spillane said the robbers are not targeting students -- just people who are walking alone between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.

"It's a relatively low number of students. They're just more high profile," he said.

Police said they have seen a spike in robberies in downtown and Midtown of people out late, including students, club-goers and others.

The robbers are looking for wallets, iPods, cell phones, sunglasses and cash. But empty-handed victims don't deter them. The latest robbery of the graduate student at Centennial Place Apartments got only a pack of cigarettes, Spillane said.

Since Feb. 7, 10 armed robberies -- nine targeting students -- have been reported in the neighborhoods surrounding Georgia Tech. None of the incidents actually occurred on campus -- close enough to be a problem, but just far enough to fall into the Atlanta Police Department's jurisdiction.

In addition to the extra Atlanta officers, Georgia Tech's "Strike Team" -- which targets problem areas on campus -- is now working seven days a week instead of four, Tech President G.P. "Bud" Peterson said Tuesday.

Peterson said Tech is working to get the word out to students through e-mails and posters letting them know to walk in groups and lock their doors.

"It's enormously important to ensure the campus community that this is a safe place," he said.

Neighbors say the graduate student robbed Monday is the latest in a rash of robberies, car break-ins and other thefts in Centennial Place and surrounding complexes.

Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders, who owns a town home in Centennial Place, also was a victim last month. Her home was burglarized by suspects who kicked in a glass door while the mayoral candidate slept upstairs.

Ian Whittle, a 2008 Emory University graduate who will be starting law school in August, has lived on Luckie Street in Centennial Place for the past 11 months.

"It makes me want to get a gun," said Whittle. "I feel unsafe."

This weekend, students Jim Kenney and Ryan Lorber were robbed on Hampton Street, about a block away from where fellow Whaley was shot.

Kenney and Lorber told police that they were confronted by two men who jumped out of a black sport utility vehicle while a third suspect remained inside the SUV. Lorber was able to escape the gunmen, but Kenney, whose leg is in a cast, was not.

Neither Kenney nor Lorber was injured in the incident.

Incidents near campus

• June 21: Jim Kenney and Ryan Lorber were robbed on the 1000 block of Hampton St.

• May 4: Carsten Singh, a 22-year-old senior at Georgia State, was visiting his girlfriend at her apartment on 16th Street near Northside Drive when he was approached by three armed men. He was later shot.

• May 4: Patrick Whaley was shot during a robbery in the garage of the Tivoli Tenside Apartments at 1000 Northside Drive.

• March 30: Mohammed Washim was robbed at gunpoint at 676 Mechanical Engineering Drive.