Three high school students became the latest victims in a string of strong-armed robberies in Madison Friday afternoon.
The teenage males were allegedly attacked from behind by two or three black men in their late teens, according to a Madison Police Department release. The incident occurred at 1:15 p.m. on Chamberlain Avenue, near Ash Street.
MPD Public Information Officer Joel DeSpain said the MPD has not proved any connections between the other strong-armed robberies occurring earlier this month.
"[We] take a look at everything and see if there are similarities," DeSpain said. "We don't know if any of these are connected."
This robbery appears to have differences compared to previous incidents, DeSpain added.
This event occurred in the early afternoon, also setting it apart from other robberies which took place much later in the day.
DeSpain added the suspects described by the victims are younger than the suspects from previous robberies.
The teenage victims, DeSpain said, identified their alleged attackers as roughly their same age.
"The descriptions seem to be five to seven years younger than the other suspects," DeSpain said. "The suspects are described as teenage boys where the other ones were more in their twenties."
The first victim told the MPD he was walking toward West High School with two male and three female students when an alleged blow to the back of his head caused him to hit his head on a parked car. The release said the other two male students were then allegedly struck from behind soon after the incident involving first victim.
One victim said he was also punched in the face, forcing him to drop his backpack. The release said the suspects allegedly took two of the male students' backpacks, both of which were recovered late Friday on the 2400 block of Kendall Avenue. DeSpain said the backpacks had only been opened and looked through, however, it is unknown if any items or money are still missing.