Tampa college students become sitting ducks for criminals along North Boulevard

TAMPA - Three University of Tampa students were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday morning walking through a neighborhood north of the campus. One student was punched. Their wallets were taken.

But what makes this story particularly disturbing is that it happened on the same city block where another UT student was robbed and murdered two years ago.

Two of the suspects were captured on 7-11 store surveillance video using their victim's credit cards. The three students were confronted by two men just after midnight as they walked from a party in the Tampa Heights neighborhood back to campus.

An email blast from the Dean alerted students to what happened. John McGowan and his friends said they were going to be walking with each other and stay in groups. When reminded that the students who were robbed were in a group of three, they dismissed it with a laugh.

"We're ready to roll up on some fools," said McGowan, who then acknowledged that he and his friends know not to stray too far from campus late at night. It's a smart move.

Just over two years ago, 21 year old UT senior Ryan McCall and a friend were confronted in the middle of the night at the very same intersection at the foot of the North Boulevard bridge. The friend escaped, but McCall was gunned down.The case remains unsolved.

The two-mile stretch of North Boulevard that runs from the University of Tampa campus across the Hillsborough River and into Tampa Heights has seen five armed robberies since the Ryan McCall murder. Two of those were against UT students. Some speculate that a housing squeeze at the fast-growing university forced students to find cheaper housing in neighborhoods with more crime.

"It's a neighborhood in transition. In any neighborhood in transition, you're going to have some types of crime problems and we've experienced that in that part of town," said Police Lieutenant Donny Peters.

"There's no reason for anyone to be walking in an urban center at 2:00 in the morning."

There remains a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the August 2009 murder of Ryan McCall. His father Kevin McCall hopes this latest robbery will be another reminder for students to be more cautious and stay safe.