COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — An Ohio State University student dialed 911 just after midnight Friday from a friend’s phone after his was stolen at gunpoint.  

It happened on West Oakland Avenue, feet away from High Street and just a short walk north of Ohio State’s campus. 

“The dude jumps out of the passenger side of the car, pulls a gun on me and says, ‘Drop everything from your pockets or I’ll shoot you,’” Ohio State senior Colin Clark said.  

Clark said his instinct was to do exactly what the person said. He handed over his phone, which was passcode protected, and watched the thief ride away with another person driving.  

Clark had just left a friend’s house to walk home. He wasn’t even half a block down the street when he walked around a dark-colored sedan parked in the alleyway blocking the sidewalk. He said a person jumped out of the passenger seat, yelled at him and pointed a gun in his direction.

“I turned around, saw the gun and I just froze, threw all that stuff out of my pockets,” Clark said. “I do this walk all the time. And I’ve, like, never even cared or, like, thought I would have an issue, especially so close to High Street, so I’m, like, freaking out. I, like, panicked. This past week has been a little bit bad for me. My car got broken into on this last Monday.” 

After he called police, Clark waited for them to arrive and realized several other friends were also walking home at the time. He became concerned a similar fate would fall on them if the vehicle and alleged thieves were still near campus.  

Columbus Police arrived and took a report of what happened.  

“While I was sitting in the cop car. I heard that another kind of similar robbery happened,” Clark said. 

Columbus police said that only the city’s police were on the initial call for service, not Ohio State University Police. They often collaborate and work together on incidents in such close proximity to campus.   

Ohio State University Police typically send out a Buckeye Alert for immediate danger on campus, or a Public Safety Notice for other reasons students and staff may need to know about an incident. For instance, an alert was sent on Sept. 16 when a shooting took place near John Herrick Drive involving two people not affiliated with the university. 

No Public Safety Notice or Buckeye Alert was sent after the armed robbery Friday night.  

According to an Ohio State police spokesperson, “Off-campus crime reports are shown on the Community Crime Map. Public Safety Notices are for crimes occurring on campus.” 

The University does have a crime map that shows what types of crimes are committed in off campus areas. However, past Public Safety Notices show a pattern of releasing information to the OSU community, even if an incident or crime takes place off-campus. 

When new OSU Police Chief Dennis Jeffrey spoke with NBC4 two weeks ago, he said the biggest challenge they face is off-campus crime.  

“That’s our biggest concern really is that High Street immediate area,” Jeffrey said then.  

Clark believes potential danger in the greater campus community could be better communicated.  

“I really would like to see a better emphasis on, like, ‘This is nearby campus, this is right near campus, this was with a gun, this was an armed robbery,’” Clark said.