Three masked men attacked a student in the quadrangle between the Biological Sciences and Physical Sciences buildings on March 1, around 11:40 a.m. No one was injured and the attackers fled.

Police Services Corporal Tom Holt said, “We’re calling it an attempted robbery, from what the victim said and from what witnesses tell us.”

The attackers ran in from Campus Drive, by Lot 13, north of the PS Building and east of the BS Building

“(The victim) sees the guys running, so he starts running too. He ran into the old PS Building and they chased him all the way through.”

He said they exited into Lot 12, east of the PS Building, where many people were present.

“Witnesses heard a bang from the door slamming open. Some of them, or really all of them, thought it was horseplay.”

Holt said the victim was unsure if he fell, or if the attackers pushed him down, but when he was on the ground they started punching or kicking him. A couple of bystanders tried to break it up.

“The masks, I heard from one witness, were black and white camouflage, covering their whole faces and hooded beanies, or just beanies and dark clothing.”

The attackers grabbed the victim’s backpack and tried to get it off him, then gave up and fled into the new PS Building.

Holt said, “I was probably the first one on scene. (The victim) was sitting there (in Lot 12). I talked to him briefly. He seemed calm. He’d had a minute to pull himself back together.

“I was told they went into the bathroom of the new Physical Sciences (building). I went in the front (of the building), two other officers went in the back.”

There was no one in bathroom. They could have taken off the hoods and masks in the bathroom, or maybe they just ran through the building, exiting by Lot 13.

No weapons were seen, nothing was taken and no injuries were reported.

“(The victim) doesn’t know who they are, or why they targeted him,” Holt said. “If anyone has any information, or if anyone saw anything, even if they don’t think it’s material, give us a call.”