By JAY STAFFORD
In the early hours of Oct. 11, a Puget Sound student was approached by an armed individual who demanded their vehicle and personal items. The robbery took place near the intersection of N 14th St and N Alder St, directly across the street from the Puget Sound campus. Fox 13 Seattle reports that the incident occurred around 12:40 a.m.
The Tacoma Police Department and University of Puget Sound’s Security Services both responded to the incident. “Security Services learned of the incident on Sunday, October 11, 2026, at 1:05 a.m., because one of our Campus Safety Officers made contact with a group of Puget Sound students in the Wheelock Parking Lot,” said Dr. Dave Ferber, Director of Security Services. “Through conversation, it was discovered that a carjacking had occurred earlier off-campus on North 14th Street, east of North Alder Street.”
Security Services released a statement via email later informing students of the event. “Campus Safety Officers provided assistance early this morning, Oct. 11, to a Puget Sound community member involved in an off-campus robbery near North 14th Street and North Alder Street. An unknown male approached the community member, demanded their personal items, and took their vehicle. The community member was physically unharmed during the incident and is being supported by university staff,” the statement read. The statement also described how Security Services would be working to improve safety moving forward: “Campus Safety Officers have increased vehicle patrols along our campus perimeter and where the community member resides on campus.”
Eli Borgenicht (‘27), who lives off campus and close to where the incident occurred, shared his experience witnessing the immediate aftermath. “I walked over and asked the police what had happened, and they told us that there was an armed robbery and someone had their car taken,” he said. Savannah Cobb (‘27) had a similar experience. “Someone in our group went over and asked him what was going on and he said there was a carjacking at gunpoint. We were like, ‘Oh my god, here?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, just down the street.’ We all kind of got reasonably nervous. We didn’t know any information beyond that at that point,” she said.
Both Borgenicht and Cobb expressed concern about Security Services’ statement regarding the event. “I think that the fact that there was a weapon used against a student, one block from campus, and we weren’t explicitly told that, feels like a massive oversight at best,” Cobb said. Borgenicht agreed that Security Services’ statement was missing key information. “They failed to mention that the robbery was armed and that the person who was robbed was a student. Both of these factors scared me, and their not being communicated, at least in my opinion, significantly downplays the nature of the crime,” Borgenicht said.
When asked why Security Services decided not to share the information that the robbery involved a weapon, Ferber said, “Because this incident occurred off-campus, was isolated, and local police confirmed the immediate danger had passed, our alert focused strictly on the facts needed for community awareness.”
Borgenicht also noted that he did not feel adequately supported by Security Service’s initiatives following the event. “Security mentioned in their email that they would be increasing patrols around campus and would also be working with Tacoma PD to increase those patrols, but there has not been any significant change in the amount of time campus security has been patrolling, at least from what I’ve witnessed,” he said. “It is not entirely clear what security will do to support students who live off campus.”
Fox 13 Seattle reports that a second carjacking occurred roughly 90 minutes later, several miles from campus in the Salishan neighborhood of Tacoma. “In discussions with Tacoma Police, we learned of a second carjacking that occurred in East Tacoma. Please note that Security Services has no jurisdiction off campus and cannot respond to incidents that happen outside our grounds,” Ferber said. At the time of publication, the Tacoma Police Department has not publicly linked the two crimes, and no arrests have been made.