About an hour and a half ago, Bwog was journeying south on the east side of Broadway when we noticed three men sprinting west across moving traffic towards the other side of the street. People stood on the sidewalk between 111th and 112th and observed the men as the chase unfolded. "I hope they get him!" yelled one spirited citizen to no one in particular.

Bwog asked a passerby what was happening, and she informed us that one man made off with a wallet that did not belong to him. According to our passerby-informant, the wallet was taken from a pedestrian on 111th street. The first man (whom Bwog could barely make out in the distance) was the bandit, and the second two men who followed him were good (and fast) Samaritans.

Public Safety wasn't aware of the incident when we spoke with them on the phone a few minutes ago, so not much is known about the current whereabouts of the wallet or the wallet bandit.

A recent Columbia grad emailed Bwog with the following tip:

A Columbia student in her early 20's was found dead in her apartment at 435 Riverside Drive, Apartment 22. The EMTs found her there -- they got a call at 12:38 p.m. about a possible cardiac arrest -- and said the place smelled awful and she'd probably been dead for a few days. They suspect suicide, but can't be sure, as they found her dead on the floor and cause of death hasn't been confirmed. The building's security guard confirmed that the woman was a Columbia student.

Stand by as the story develops and be sure to send any tips to bwog@columbia.edu

UPDATE 1:25 PM: Bwog just got off the phone with Public Safety, who is not commenting. The have confirmed that there has been "a situation" at that address.

UPDATE 2:02 PM: More from our tipster: "The girl was apparently Italian and she was found by her roommate/subletting landlord."

UPDATE 9:44 AM: More from our tipster: "Apparently, the student was subletting either the whole or part of the apt at 435 Riverside. The person she was subletting from came home after being gone for several days and found her lying dead on the floor of one of the back rooms, possibly her bedroom. According to this person, the girl had said she was extremely depressed the last time she was seen. Thus, the suspicion of suicide (which of course cannot be proved or disproved without an actual autopsy)."

The AP is reporting that a suspect, a 13-year-old boy, has been arrested regarding the death of Columbia grad student Minghui Yu. He is reportedly being charged with second-degree manslaughter, but his name has not been released.

UPDATE (1:15 PM): According to The Daily News and Gothamist, the police now suspect that the boys who assaulted Yu did not intend to mug him. From the DN: "We don't believe it was robbery," a police source said. "It was some sort of altercation." The DN also has a witness saying that the 13 year old boasted "Look what I do to this one" before attacking Yu.
The NY Post reports that "Yu struggled with at least one of the teens, who punched him in the face, while the other kept watch, witnesses told police."
The police are still searching for the second teenager.

UPDATE (1:40 PM): The New York Times has a story up now, highlighting Yu's involvement in the Chinese Students and Scholars Association. Quote from the article: "'This area is very dangerous,' said Hyun Kim, a Columbia graduate student...'It could happen to anyone living in this area.'"

WABC TV and multiple student tipsters inform us that a grad student [not GS as previously reported] fleeing muggers at 122nd Street and Broadway was hit by a car and taken to St. Luke's with "severe head trauma." More on this as we get more information.

UPDATE (1:33 AM): Gothamist post reveals that the student was studying late in Butler before the incident. We now feel worse about this than we already did.

UPDATE (11:05 AM): The student, Minghui Yu, died last night at St. Luke's Hospital. The Daily News has the story in classic tabloid form (e.g. "The guy's body was twisted like a pretzel.") The Spec has it here. Bwog, for sorrow, hangs its head.

Update (1:19 PM): More coverage can be found here and here.

Bollinger's email after the jump

Columbia security guards have been going all vigilante of late, patrolling the neighborhood (or at least Broadway and Amsterdam between 111th and 116th) on foot. Apparently, the new security protocol is a response to two recent muggings at 112th and Amsterdam. One tipster reports seeing ten police officers and security guards on a single walk on Broadway from 114th to 106th. If the plethora of patrollers isn't making you paranoid yet, Barnard is alerting its students to neighborhood crime through ubiquitous posters.

A search of the Spec's archives shows only one report of a mugging in the past five months, but a Public Safety account reveals a spate of crime in the new year. It's starting to feel a little early '80s here on the Upper West Side, don't you think?

Edited, 5:30pm: Apparently the Spec has quite a bit of coverage of recent crimes in the neighborhood. Sorry, Spec!

Reed dropped out of school and was on the lam for more than a year before she was arrested on Saturday on charges of fraud and identity theft. Henson—who has been missing for nearly eight years—is still missing.

While at Columbia, Reed is believed to have nabbed $100 grand of financial aid. CU administration has admitted that she was enrolled up until last year, but did not provide any details.

But we had to take a double take when we read the release about a robbery just sent out by Public Safety chief Jim McShane, which contained the following description:

Male/white/30's/6'/medium build/clean shaven,
wearing a dark sweater with horizontal stripes, khaki
pants.

Kind of a preppy robber, no? He must have been carrying a gun; otherwise she would have just punched him in the face.

Bwog has received several e-mails about a violent incident outside McBain at about 4:30 AM this morning. Calls to Public Safety have so far proved fruitless, so we thought we'd at least print the eyewitness accounts until more information becomes available:

"I was sleeping peacefully in my room above Nussbaum last night when at around 4:30 in the morning, I woke to blood-curdling screams, next thing I knew, two men (both who looked young from my window) were being arrested with no less than 5 cop cars and 8 NYPD on the job, and one sobbing girl standing out in front of the entrance to McBain."

"At about 4 am there was some drunken shouting between someone in McBain and some drunk guy on the street. Not sure if it was connected with what happened 30 minutes later, but it's 4:34 am right now and I heard a woman screaming loudly and crying. I had no idea what was going on but I knew it wasn't just drunk screaming anymore. She was LOUD.

I jumped out of bed, rushed downstairs, and told the security guard, who said it was nothing - that it was from 112th street, but I told him no I heard it coming from 113th. Then he flips on his security cam and I saw the WHOLE THING go down. There was struggling, fighting, and a woman in a white coat screaming. Then the cops pulled up and BAM tackled one of the guys (not sure how many there were)."

What's going on? If you know anything, let us know at bwog@columbia.edu.

The other shoe in Columbia's financial aid boondoggle dropped in Bwog's inbox this morning: a few weeks after jettisoning former Dean David Charlow, the University has recieved its comeuppance from New York State, which threw the book at us harder than any other school. "We believe Columbia's employee was acting illegally," said Attorney General Andrew "Enforcer" Cuomo. "A corporation must police its employees." As such, Columbia will pay up a cool $1.1 million, and sign the College Loan Code of Conduct--but only because they wanted to, not because they had to. Or at least that's how Low Library is framing it.

"Columbia University does not admit, and expressly denies, that it has violated any law in connection with its student loan practices," read the statement from Public Affairs director Robert Hornsby. "Columbia is not paying a fine or making any restitution as part of the settlement, but will contribute $1,125,000 to the Attorney General's national fund for educating and assisting students and their parents about the financial aid process."

One tipster opines: "You know that somehow the increased oversight is going to result in more paperwork for students. Thats what happens everytime Columbia gets busted for poor oversight- they pass the new 'rules' on."

Spec got to the story first, while Bwog was having technical difficulties. Look for more backstory from them imminently. UPDATE, 2:15 EST: Sexy details in expanded article!

- LBD

Bwog has recieved tips that a Law Library technical assistant was shot and killed Tuesday night by suspects still at-large. Malik Murray was at the Aroma Chinese Restaurant on West 125th Street, according to reports from the Spectator and the New York Daily News.

Funeral services were held for Malik at Washington Memorial Park at 12:30 this afternoon. Our condolences go out to those close to Murray. Bwog will continue to post developments on this story as they emerge.

UPDATE May 11th, 2008:

Bwog received an email from Faatimah Smith-Murray, the ex-wife of Malik Murrah and mother of his seven year old son. Smith-Murray has provided her own account of what happened one year ago, which we've included below:

"Malik had just finished teaching an aikido class at Columbia and rode is bike to the New Aroma Chinese food restaurant around 11:35 p.m. When he got there, his neighbor (a woman) was in an argument with the Spanish delivery guy. Malik was trying to calm her down, but she had already called her son and told him she was agruing with the Spanish delivery guy. When her son and his friend got to the store, they asked "where is the Spanish guy you was arguing with?" The woman said, "he left, but this guy over here was popping junk!" (referring to Malik) The boys started pushing Malik around then left the store. Malik went to the door way to make sure the Spanish delivery guy got away. The friend of the woman's son shot 5 times into the store, shooting Malik 3 times in the torso.

The 17 year old boy that shot Malik surrender himself to the police a few days after the shooting. He's still in jail waiting trial, which should commence at the end of this month.

Malik was a wonderful father to our son, Muhammad. There's not a day that goes by that Muhammad doesn't ask about his "ba ba" (African for father). They used to spend every weekend together, they had a VERY close father and son bond. Malik is GREATLY missed by all who knew him."

While Bwog enjoyed the sunny weather on such a splendid day, several things also caught our attention:

• Bacchanal festivities coincided with today's, er, other special celebrations, including Battle of the Bands, a much-too-limited barbecue, a moonwalk, and a sorority-sponsored "munchies" sale. Columbia's beloved mascot was also spotted roaming about (pictured to the right), giving hugs and shaking hands with the chilled-out student crowd around College Walk. In the meantime, pre-frosh were abundant for SEAS Days on Campus. Talk about hyperbolic advertising.
  

• Bwog reader Alex Port brings us news that the Joseph Urban stage models on the third floor of Butler (which have been there for ages) have been removed. What will the Butler treasure chest reveal to us next? Perhaps Robert Moses models instead?
  
  
• As if the to-be-built Northwest Science Building weren't enough, the J-School plans on doing some construction of its own. The Stabile Student Center is scheduled to open in Fall 2007, complete with café space, outdoor seating, and a glass enclosure. Glass is all the rage in these parts, it seems...

• Since we're on the theme of architecture: SEAS Class Day speaker Santiago Calatrava has designed a 2,000-foot tall Chicago tower that could trump every other building in America. Daaamn. [Insert "ivory tower" joke here.]
  

• Spectator's most recent multimedia project happens to be on the arrest of Robert Williams, although it seems a bit New York Post-ish for the Spec's image. Really, "Perp Walk," guys?
  

- MIP

The Daily News reported at 4:00 AM and Spec picked up later that the prime suspect in last Saturday's brutal rape was apprehended in Queens at about 5:45 PM yesterday. Barnard students were notified by e-mail at 9:00 AM.

According to the article, "Robert Williams, 30, is a violent ex-con who attempted to kill his neighbor, beat a stranger on the subway and threw feces at prison guards."

Read all coverage here.

The NYPD has released information about the man accused of raping and torturing a Journalism School student in Hamilton Heights last week. The man, William Roberts, has a criminal record and apparently frequents homeless shelters in the area. Read WABC's coverage here.

UPDATE: Public Safety has put up a notice here, and is looking for tips.

Spec is reporting that an employee at Appletree supermarket tipped off police to a man he believes to be the suspect in the recent Journalism School student rape. We don't know at this point if it was in fact the suspect himself [UPDATE: He's not], but police responded to the tip and searched the area this morning.

UPDATE: Barnard students received the following e-mail at 5:45 PM:

"This is a further updated advisory concerning the sexual assault of the Columbia graduate student in her West 141st Street apartment.

We have just been notified by the Manhattan Special Victims Squad (MSVS) that their analysis of the Apple Tree surveillance tape confirms that the person spotted in the store early this morning who resembled the police sketch of the suspect IS NOT in fact the person being sought in connection with this crime. We will continue to keep you apprised of important developments as they occur.

William Plackenmeyer
Director of Safety and Security"

Add quelling your worries about wandering rapists to the possible benefits of Barnard over Columbia.

In the wake of last night's CTV News scoop on this story, Barnard officials emailed students this afternoon with an update on the stabbing of Oscar Sevilla, the superintendant of the college's antipodean Cathedral Gardens dorm. Sevilla, it turns out, faked his police report, claiming the incident took place on 110th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave., when in fact it occurred in a more northerly part of Manhattan. He has now been charged with falsifying his report as well as suspended from his Barnard job.

We're guessing that Spec's Roving Reporter will now have to reverse last week's claim that Sevilla ought to be armed with a medieval battle weapon... perhaps supplanting it with the question of which archaic torture device would best help determine why Sevilla was intent on concealing his whereabouts- and bringing crime-related pandemonium to Morningside Heights.

See the full Barnard email below the jump...

-CJS