• A man not affiliated with Marquette attacked a neighborhood woman Sunday night outside of Parking Structure 2.
• The suspect was able to flee the scene, but was detained by DPS officers within a few minutes.
• Five students witnessed the crime from a dorm room and reported it to DPS
• The suspect confessed to MPD during the criminal investigation and is currently in custody.

A coincidental glance out a dorm room window led to five students playing a role in the apprehension of a strong-armed robbery suspect Sunday.

According to Department of Public Safety reports, at 9:10 p.m. an unknown man not affiliated with Marquette attacked a 48-year-old female as she was walking westbound on Wells Street in front of the Wells Street Structure.

The man demanded the woman's purse and then struck her in the head, the report said. After a brief struggle, he was able to take her purse and flee the scene through an alley just east of the Wells Street Structure.

According to Capt. Russ Shaw, associate director of DPS, the student witnesses provided a similar account of the incident and were able to provide DPS officers with the suspect's direction of travel.

"Within minutes, DPS had saturated the area," Shaw said.

Shortly thereafter, an officer in the 1300 block of Kilbourn Avenue spotted a man who matched the dispatcher's description of the robbery suspect. According to Shaw, the man was carrying a woman's denim purse.

The officer asked for the man to stop so he could speak with him, but the subject immediately fled west on Kilbourn Avenue.

The officer continued to follow the suspect his squad car, repeatedly telling him to stop, Shaw said.

Another DPS officer was able to cut off the suspect at the intersection of 13th Street and Kilbourn Avenue. The suspect was then forced to run back toward the officer who had originally been following him, giving both officers the opportunity to detain him.

The subject was taken into custody by the Milwaukee Police Department. According to Shaw, MPD contacted DPS Monday regarding the status of the criminal investigation, and DPS was informed that the suspect had admitted to the robbery.

The five female students who witnessed the robbery did so from a dorm room on the fourth floor of Abbottsford Hall.

Erin O'Brien, a freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences, said she and three other students were sitting in the room of their friend Sarah Ochs, a freshman in the College of Engineering, when they saw the robbery taking place.

"Sarah called DPS the second she saw something was wrong," O'Brien said. According to O'Brien, though they were unable to provide a detailed description of the suspect to DPS beyond his clothing, she believes that Ochs' quick action allowed DPS to apprehend the subject.

Ochs said that as soon as she saw the struggle, she "knew something had to happen."

"I knew DPS would be there," Ochs said. "So they were the first people I thought of to call."

Shaw said DPS was very pleased with the action taken by the five students.

"We want to commend the young ladies who reported this," he said. "Their level-headedness and willingness to contact (DPS) really made our job much easier."

This is the second robbery this year reported to DPS, occurring less than two weeks after the female student was attacked in Structure 1 on Jan. 8. DPS played a role in the apprehension of the suspects involved in both cases.