A student reported being held up at gunpoint near campus earlier this month after mistaking a van for a SafeRides vehicle, but he escaped unharmed.

The student, Gian Kull (SFS ’07), was leaving Eton Court, an apartment complex on Potomac Street, at around 12:40 a.m. on the morning of Jan. 16. He said that after waiting for around 25 minutes, he approached a green van parked outside Booeymonger’s that he believed to be the SafeRides shuttle he had called to bring him back to campus.

“[The van] had been there for 15 minutes, and it flashed its lights at one point, so I thought the driver was trying to get my attention,” Kull said.

Kull said that he knocked on the window of the van but realized it was not a SafeRides shuttle once the driver lowered the window. The driver said that Kull had scared him and that he had almost pulled out his gun, at which point Kull said he decided to walk away and head back to campus on foot.

Kull was halfway up the block when, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report, the driver pulled up alongside him, produced a black handgun and demanded all of Kull’s money.

Kull said he was caught off-guard and told the driver to stop bothering him.

“I didn’t take him seriously,” Kull said. “If he had stayed for over a minute, I would probably have given him the money.”

The van driver sped away when he heard police sirens approaching. Kull said the sirens belonged to three MPS cars following a drunk driver who had just turned the corner onto the block.

Kull said he then reported the attempted robbery to the MPD officers after they had pulled over the drunk driver.

Kull said that police told him they would inform him if they found any suspects matching Kull’s description but that MPD has not yet contacted him with more information.

The police report described the suspect as a black male of approximately 30 years of age with black hair.

Kull said that he does not think the suspect will be caught.

“I kind of personally doubt it,” Kull said. “After [MPD] questioned me, they drove around looking for a green parked van.”

MPD Investigator Dejuan Williams declined to comment on PD’s progress with the case.