[media-credit name=’BEN CLASSON/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]With two more strong-armed robberies late Thursday night and early Friday morning, the recent total for Madison climbs to six muggings in a mere four days.

According to Madison Police Department Public Information Officer Joel DeSpain, the recent crimes have the police department combining information from throughout the city to try to stop the attackers.

"We're pulling the resources of our central, south and west districts where these things have happened and having the detectives compare notes," DeSpain said. "We're making a strategy to deal with this."

The most recent two muggings occurred at approximately 11:55 p.m. Thursday and 12:41 a.m. Friday on the 100 block of South Randall Street and the 5300 block of Raymond Road, respectively.

According to an MPD release, two Edgewood College students were walking southbound on South Randall from the area near the Open Pantry convenience store when two black males allegedly put them in headlocks. The female victim reported to the police she was struck in the face at least three times by one of the attackers. The suspects ran away with the woman's purse and cash from the male victim's pocket.

Less than an hour later on Raymond Road, a 47-year-old man was walking home from another convenience store when two black men in their early twenties approached him asking for a light. When the victim reached in his pocket for some matches, one of the suspects allegedly punched him in the eye. The victim blocked a second punch, however, and when he started fighting back, his attackers ran away without stealing any possessions.

The victim on Raymond Road is the oldest victim yet in this slew of crimes, and the third male of the seven total victims this week. Only one of the victims was a University of Wisconsin student.

"We don't know if there's a connection between the suspects," DeSpain said. "The thing is that the suspect descriptions are similar in that they're two black males who wear white T-shirts, but there are a lot of black males who wear white T-shirts."

However, DeSpain said it is hard to ignore that some of the crimes looked very similar to the others.

"At this point we're just going to do our best to get a strategy," DeSpain said. "Whoever [the suspects] are and how many there are we don't know."