A 29-year-old Madison woman was taken to the emergency room Monday night after becoming the ninth strong-armed robbery victim in Madison in the last two weeks.
According to a Madison Police Department release, the woman was walking home from an East Washington Avenue liquor store with a six-pack of beer when she was approached from behind. Her two attackers allegedly knocked her to the ground and punched her in the face several times while she called out for help.
The suspects then allegedly fled with her wallet and beer and were last seen running toward East Johnson Street. Once police arrived, the woman was taken to a local emergency room for stitches on a facial cut. The victim also lost a tooth from the punches.
According to MPD Public Information Officer Joel DeSpain, the police department has not yet determined whether this incident is linked with any of the eight other strong-armed robberies in Madison that have occurred over the past two weeks.
"It's hard to tell if they're linked or related because the suspect descriptions are all kind of vague," DeSpain said. "I think it's too early to tell at this point."
According to MPD news releases, all the suspects in the cases have been either one or two black males, and most of the descriptions place the suspects in their early 20s.
However, DeSpain said the suspect descriptions vary somewhat significantly in the attackers' heights.
"They're pretty generic," DeSpain said. "It certainly could be that we have multiple suspects who are not working in concert with each other."
Among the recent attacks, DeSpain said the one on Monday stands out for its violence.
"[The victim] reported that she was punched in the face at least three times, so I think as far as injuries, this is may be the most significant in the sense that she had to get stitches and broke a tooth," DeSpain said. "But it isn't the first time that somebody's been punched."
Only one of the victims in the string of incidents in the past two weeks has been a University of Wisconsin student. The most recent victims have been a 91-year-old woman on Sept. 26 and three high school students on Sept. 28.
As the police department continues to investigate the robberies, DeSpain urges anyone with further knowledge of the incidents or the suspects to come forward.
"The more people that can act as our eyes and ears, the better we're going to be at catching these people," DeSpain said. "There are always purse snatchings and strong-armed robberies that take place. … Certainly we saw sort of a cluster two weeks ago, and we've seen a few since then."
Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, said the Associated Students of Madison neighborhood watch program, which will kick off this Friday night, could help prevent attacks like these.
"I think the visible deterrents to crime that the neighborhood watch could provide could at least put a dent in number the strong-armed robberies we've been seeing," Judge said. "I certainly don't think it would hurt."
The neighborhood watch program's goal is to have a student presence on and around campus on Friday and Saturday nights to help prevent crime. Volunteers will be walking the streets from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. starting this Friday night.
