Virginia Commonwealth University issued a warning to its students and staff after two robberies occurred in two days near the downtown Richmond school’s main academic campus. Police have stepped up their presence on and around VCU properties in response to the robberies, John M. Bennett, senior vice president for finance and administration, said in a letter to the university community.

Two Virginia Commonwealth University students were robbed at gunpoint Wednesday night near the southern edge of the downtown Richmond school’s main academic campus. No injuries were reported in the robbery, which occurred at 10:15 p.m. in the 800 block of West Cumberland Street. Richmond police Capt. Scott Booth said the students, ages 21 and 22, were walking along Cumberland when they were confronted by two males, both carrying firearms.

Police charged a Richmond man yesterday in one of several robberies committed by someone on a bicycle at a South Richmond apartment complex. Kent L. Peace, 18, was taken into custody yesterday morning and charged with one count each of robbery and use of a firearm in a felony. The charges stem from an incident early Wednesday morning in the 1400 block of Treehaven Drive at the Communities at Southwood apartments.

Richmond police have arrested three people in an armed robbery they say was set up through Craigslist. The victim told police he solicited a massage from a woman through the online classifieds site, but that a woman and two men robbed him at gunpoint early Wednesday morning at his home in the 3100 block of Stuart Avenue. Before he was robbed, the man met the woman outside near his home about 1 a.m., but the woman left and the man went and sat on his front porch, police said.

Chesterfield County police say that a former Burger King employee was arrested last night within minutes of a robbery at the restaurant at 11431 Midlothian Turnpike.

A man who robbed a busy coffee shop in South Richmond—firing a bullet that narrowly missed one employee and threatening to shoot a customer—pleaded guilty yesterday to robbery and a firearms charge. Eddie James Edwards III, 21, will face up to life in prison when he is sentenced for last year’s robbery at Crossroads Coffee and Ice Cream. About 10 customers were inside when it happened.

An 18-year-old man was shot last night during a robbery attempt in North Richmond. Richmond police said the man was shot in the hand and leg by an unknown person about 10:19 p.m. in the 1200 block of East Brookland Park Boulevard near Meadowbridge Road. The victim was taken to VCU Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Petersburg police have arrested three teens who authorities say were involved in the robbery and shooting of a female cab driver early yesterday in the 800 block of High Street. The victim, who was not identified, suffered a gunshot wound to her right arm. Her injuries were not considered life-threatening. Within hours of the holdup, police arrested Maurice Epps, 18, of the 100 block of Clayton Street and charged him with robbery, abduction and aggravated assault.

Colin Goddard can relate to the experience of the frightened patrons who ducked behind counters or fled Golden Food Market during a robbery-turned-shootout. Goddard was wounded April 16, 2007, when Seung-Hui Cho burst into a Virginia Tech classroom and opened fire. Now 23 and a Tech graduate, God dard works as an intern at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington.

Hours after a robbery suspect died of wounds from a weekend shooting in a South Richmond store, police officials met last night with area business owners to discuss efforts to curb crime. James Grooms III, 30, died about 11:20 a.m. yesterday at VCU Medical Center of injuries sustained Saturday during the attempted robbery at the Golden Food Market in the 2700 block of Jefferson Davis Highway.

Three days after Mustapha Kassou was shot in an attempted robbery in his store in South Richmond, he said that he owed his life to the man who ended the ordeal by shooting the robber. Yesterday, Kassou returned to Golden Food Market on Jefferson Davis Highway for the first time since he was shot there Saturday afternoon. Kassou said the masked robber walked into the store shortly after 1 p.m. and seemed startled to see about eight people inside. The robber told everyone to get on the floor, and then he fired at Kassou and hit him twice, he said.

Golden Food Market sat dark and empty yesterday, a metal gate pulled down over its façade following a brazen midday robbery-turned-shootout Saturday. A couple of blocks north on Jefferson Davis Highway, a wood-framed photo of slain co-owner Ashraf “Alex” Alatiyat greeted the few customers who trickled in to Come and Go Food Market.

Richmond police have charged a 30-year-old South Richmond man in the aborted robbery of a convenience store that left him and the store owner wounded. James Grooms of the 2200 block of Chalfont Drive remains hospitalized after being shot by a friend of the owner of Golden Food Market at 2701 Jefferson Davis Highway in South Richmond, police said.

Richmond police were searching for the assailant who robbed one woman and tried to rob another in the Fan District early yesterday, injuring both of them. One woman was shot and the other was knocked to the ground in separate assaults that occurred between 1:20 and 1:25 a.m. in the 100 block of Strawberry Street, Capt. Harvey S. Powers said.

Police believe Larry Donnell Starks, 26, of Disputanta is involved in at least four robberies. Chesterfield County police have arrested a Disputanta man who authorities say is a suspect in several other recent holdups in the Richmond region. Larry Donnell Starks, 26, has been charged in Thursday night’s holdup of the Nash Mart in the 1700 block of East Hundred Road, near an exit for Interstate 295.