Author: Ben Dalgetty
An Oxy student had his vehicle stolen at knife-point in the Bell Field Parking Lot on April 27 at 8 p.m. The student “exited his vehicle [and] two male Hispanics approached him, produced a knife and demanded his vehicle keys,” the Campus Safety report said. The two males, who the student estimated to be between 18 and 20 years old, said, “Hey, sorry, dude, but this is a heist and we don’t want any funny business-just give us the keys to your car. We are being chased by a gang and need to get out of here quickly.” The student immediately complied with the carjackers’ demand, but was able to get his apartment house key from the assailants before they drove off in the car.
Unfortunately, “I had more than half my clothing, and all my books from past semesters, very nice sunglasses, plus a carton of cigarettes in that car, not to mention it was my bloody car,” the student said in an email interview with the Weekly. The student, who thankfully remained uninjured, said, “Campus Safety did a great job responding . . . [however], I am not very pleased with LAPD, but it is due to understandable reasons. A shooting was occupying most of their operators, and their police were on duty in the area. As a result, it took them two hours before they arrived to file a report with me.”
Although in an email to the Oxy community, Campus Safety Director Holly Nieto said, “Statistically your chances of being a carjacking victim are very slim,” the incident is a reminder that Occidental is part of Los Angeles.
“I feel like this was a fluke thing,” the student said. “The only scary part is that there is nothing that will prevent this type of situation from happening again,” he said. He added, “While it doesn’t appear to be a habitual thing, it is scary that it even could happen in broad daylight while on campus.”
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