As North Carolina State University students returned to class on Monday, the school’s police department and the Raleigh Police Department are working together to solve three carjackings they believe to be connected.

Two of the three incidents happened on Sunday:

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  • An armed robbery around 10 p.m. Sunday outside of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity house on Avent Ferry Road, which is located off campus. Police said two men pointed a handgun at someone inside a vehicle, demanding they get out. When the would-be thieves tried to drive away, they were unable to drive a stick shift, police said. The two ran away with the victim’s cellphone.
    • The same two men then stole a car on Gorman Street, police said.

      “When he got in, it was actually a stick shift,” said NC State Police Chief Dan House of the incident at the fraternity house. “They were not able to drive stick shift and so they left the car.”

      On Aug. 17, three people held up to a person in a Raleigh Food Lion parking lot and stole a Toyota RAV4, police said.

      House said authorities have yet to find anything to link anyone to the crimes. He said authorities are hoping to find out more information.

      “It’s a tough task, but we are hoping we get lucky that somebody picked something up on surveillance and we are able to tie something to that,” House said.

      WRAL News asked House about the frequency of crimes in the near vicinity.

      “If you compare to other large cities, especially where there is a university around, our crime rate is very low,” House said. “This type of thing rarely happens like this.”

      WRAL Data Trackers looked at calls for service to Raleigh police for the areas where the reported incidents happened, along Avent Ferry Road from Apple Blossom Court to Western Boulevard then down Western to Gorman Street and the areas in between. WRAL Data Trackers found there were 12,721 incidents reported to police in that area in the first eight months of every year since 2017.

      Incidents reported from January through August (Year: Incident):

      • 2017: 2,255
        • 2018: 2,372
          • 2019: 2,152
            • 2020: 1,923
              • 2021: 2,001
                • 2022: 2,018

                  Most of the crimes - 43% - reported in that area are crimes against property, like larceny from cars and general property damage. Violent crime – described by the FBI as robberies, rapes, homicides and aggravated assaults – makes up 3.4% of the incident reports for this area. While that's a small percentage, it is slightly higher than the percent citywide. Aggravated assault is the most commonly reported violent crime in this part of the city.

                  On Tuesday, WRAL News spoke with NC State Student Body President McKenzy Heavlin about his time on campus. He's been a student at the school since 2018. In that time, WRAL Data Trackers found that the reported criminal incidents in the area have dropped by almost 15%.

                  "Even when we get these alerts and notices, I have always felt really safe, especially on campus," Heavlin said.

                  However, Heavlin said any sort of act or incidents that threatens student safety is one too many.

                  "If you don’t feel safe in your campus community, you’re not going to be able to do the things you came to college to do, so you won’t be able to study well, make friends [or] grow as an individual," Heavlin said.

                  House encouraged the public and students to have a plan when traveling on campus. He encouraged students to communicate with one another about where they’re planning to go.

                  NC State senior Jake Zilles is a fraternity brother and friend of the Pi Kappa Phi member who had a gun pointed at his head.

                  “If anything were to happen, everybody around here knows each other,” Zilles said. “It’s a Greek community so we can at least protect each other.

                  “I am just glad nothing bad happened.”

                  Zilles explained how his friend was holding up.

                  “He is a little shaken up but we are kind of adrenaline junkies and so he wasn’t really scared,” Zilles said of his friend.

                  Zilles said his buddy had a request of the two people who tried to steal his car.

                  “He’s like, ‘Sorry if it’s too early for jokes, but I just wish they would teach people how to drive stick shift in driver’s ed in North Carolina,’” Zilles said.

                  NC State freshman Andrew Byrd said his parents texted him to make sure he was ok.

                  “It’s kind of crazy seeing how quick that stuff happens here,” Byrd said.

                  Byrd said he was still trying to find his way around campus.

                  “It’s not really scary, but you just have to be on the lookout for stuff and watching your surroundings and everything,” Byrd said.