Jan. 11, 8 p.m.: The only thing that Gabriela Rivera, mass communication sophomore, lost on Zimple Street in the attempted robbery was her cell phone.

While her friend was pulling out of a drive-through ATM at Capital One Bank, the suspect put his hand on the hood of the car. When he began to turn towards the driver’s window, Logan Napoli, LSU sophomore, sped off. Rivera dropped her phone in her cup of Coca-Cola from the shock.

According to Rivera, the suspect was dressed in all black. He had on a baseball cap and a handkerchief tied around his face. “All you could see were his eyes,” she said.

While the suspect was turning, he moved his arm forward, and Rivera said that he was armed with a gun. However, because the gun was not pointed at the driver, the University Police report was only filed as attempted robbery instead of attempted armed robbery.

The students alerted police patrolling a wedding nearby, but the officers told them to call 911. The girls chose to have police patrol the area rather than file a report, but later filed a report with UP on campus.

“They took it really seriously at first,” Rivera said. “But once UP realized the gun wasn’t aimed, they changed the report to attempted robbery.”

Napoli was the most affected by the attempt, and was reluctant to even deal with police reports before going home. Rivera said the incident made her more aware of the area.

“You think Uptown is safer, but there’s no place safe,” she said. “You have to be cautious … especially if you’re not from here.”

Katie Urbaszeski can be reached at [email protected].