NEW HAVEN -- Two students, who live in Yale University's Timothy Dwight Residential College, called campus police early Monday morning following a startling discovery in their dorm suite.
At roughly 3:30 Monday morning, a campus wide email was sent out from Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins.
"At about 1:30 last night, two students ran into an unknown man that proceeded to show a handgun," said Jack Atwater, a Yale Junior, who lives in Timothy Dwight.
The police chief said, after allegedly brandishing the gun, the man stole a computer and ran out of the building. One student, who also lives in Timothy Dwight, was unaware of the robbery until her roommate woke her up.
"She said that there was a robbery and she had me lock our window," said Christina Lindsay, a Yale Freshman.
All students have cards that permit them to unlock each of the residential colleges exteriors gates, but "only the students in the college will actually have access to the entryways," said Atwater.
But, he says ,it’s possible that someone, who did not have access to the building itself could have gotten inside.
"It would be awkward if somebody said hey could you let me in, which happens all the time for somebody from a different college, and you said no I don’t think that you’re at the school," Atwater added.
The university, in a statement, said robberies in residential colleges are rare. And, the Yale Daily News reports one of the students, who encountered the intruder, posted to a closed Facebook group that the door to her suite was unlocked when the incident took place.
"It’s a decision a lot of students make earlier in the year just for ease of you know you get out to go to the bathroom in the hallway you want to leave your your door open and maybe people will duck tape over though the door latch," said Hopewell Rogers, a Yale student, who is a first year counselor in another of the university's residential college.