THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 10, 1996 TAG: 9609100250
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 87 lines
Nine people, six of them Old Dominion University students, were getting ready to enjoy dinner and a football game on television Sunday when three armed men burst through the door of the off-campus apartment where three of the students live.
The intruders forced their victims to lie on the floor, beat several with their guns and made off with valuables.
Four of the students were treated for injuries, mostly cuts to the head.
Amy Taylor, a 19-year-old biology major, said Monday she was standing at the kitchen sink in her nightgown, making dinner with Hamburger Helper and chatting with eight friends watching the football game Sunday night.
About 9:30 p.m., she turned on the cold water to make Kool-Aid when the unlocked front door of the three-bedroom apartment she shares with two other students flew open.
A masked gunman kicked open the door and entered the living room, holding what appeared to be a .38-caliber handgun in his left hand.
``Everybody get down on the floor now,'' he shouted to the frightened group, Taylor said.
Taylor left the cold water running as she lay face-down on the floor of the apartment in the 1000 block of W. 50th St., a few blocks from campus.
Taylor said a second gunman suddenly appeared and guarded Taylor and her friends without speaking. Police said there were three gunmen, but Taylor saw only two.
The first gunman waved his gun around the room, asking, ``Where's the money at?''
As everyone lay on the floor, the two gunmen rifled through the victims' pockets and struck several on the back the head with their guns.
``(There were) some open wounds that were bleeding quite a bit,'' Taylor said. ``He knocked some people pretty hard.''
On Monday, a large bloodstain remained on the kitchen floor beside the table where one of the victims was beaten.
The first gunman demanded money from one of Taylor's roommates, Jeff Kosky, a part-time ODU student who is in the Navy. Kosky was lying face-down on the kitchen floor.
``Jeff said it was in the back,'' Taylor said. Before he took Kosky to the bedroom to show him where the money was, the gunman told his accomplice, ``If anybody moves, shoot them.''
Kosky led the gunman to his bedroom, where he gave them his wallet.
The gunman also asked Taylor's other roommate, 19-year-old James ``J.R.'' Ihde, for his money.
``I told the man I only had $4 in my wallet,'' Ihde said in an interview Monday afternoon.
One gunman put a gun to Taylor's throat and asked where her money was.
``I said it was in the back,'' Taylor recalled. ``Actually, I didn't know where the money was at. I couldn't think.''
The bandits went into all three bedrooms, but missed Ihde's laptop computer and Taylor's jewelry box on her dresser.
Taylor, who on Monday had a large bump in the back of her head as a result of Sunday's beating, said she was hit four times and suffered a mild concussion.
She said the intruders talked about taking a hostage. One of the group, 20-year-old Ronshay L. Rice, was forced at gunpoint to the front door.
``He grabbed me by my shirt,'' said Rice, 20, a former ODU student. ``He pushed me out towards the door and just threw me out. Then I began running. .
The robbers escaped with everyone's wallet, a stereo and about $60 to $70 in cash, Taylor said.
``They were in here probably no more than four or five minutes,'' Taylor said, ``but that was the longest four or five minutes of my life.''
Police had made no arrests on Monday and were searching for the intruders.
The victims could provide only limited descriptions of the robbers because the men wore masks and the victims were forced to lie face-down.
They are described as three black males, armed with handguns. One suspect is described as 6 feet tall, with a dark complexion and a medium build. He was wearing a dark sweatshirt turned inside-out and Timberland boots.
A second suspect is described as having a light complexion and large build. Police could provide no description of the third suspect.
After the robbery, Taylor realized that the robbers had taken her wallet, which contained her student identification, and the keys to the apartment.
Taylor, who is staying with friends, said a deadbolt lock will be in place at all times in the apartment.
She said she also plans to withdraw from school and return to her family's home in western Virginia.
``I'd rather be home. . . things are a lot calmer,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Blood remained Monday in the kitchen of the apartment that Amy
Taylor, left, and James Ihde share with a third student.
KEYWORDS: ASSAULT ROBBERY ODU STUDENT by CNB