On Tuesday morning, the Providence Police Department arrested a woman believed to have been involved in an armed robbery around midnight Friday.
At 12:27 a.m. Saturday, after a male and female walked by a white SUV parked near the intersection of Brown and Cushing Streets, a female occupant of the vehicle approached them, asked for gas money, displayed a knife and demanded the female passer-by's purse, said Mark Porter, chief of police and director of public safety.
The victims were then confronted by a male occupant of the car, who took the male pedestrian's backpack, he said.
After the incident, the suspects left and drove north on Brown Street, according to an e-mail sent to the Brown community Saturday afternoon.
Neither of the victims was injured.
In the e-mail, the alleged robber was described as a Hispanic female of about 18 years who had curly hair in a ponytail and was wearing plaid pajama pants.
The male who approached the victims was described as a "dark complexioned male wearing a blue baseball cap with white trim and a blue jersey."
PPD arrested the woman who allegedly stole the purse yesterday, Porter said.
"We were updated today of the fact that the person has been arrested," Porter said.
The crime is the first armed robbery reported on campus in 2008, Porter said. Last year at this time in the semester, four such robberies were reported to have occurred on or near campus, according to Porter. He attributed the decrease to increased DPS presence around campus and more crime awareness information being distributed to the Brown community.
Porter declined to say whether the victims were students. A PPD official would not comment on the case because the investigation is ongoing.
