When Decobia Gray walked into work on South Campus on March 4, she didn’t know that an armed robber would leave her and a co-worker in fear of their lives.
For Gray, assistant area coordinator over student family housing, a day at the office turned into a brutal and life-altering experience.
“I was just about to go into the office and I saw a man standing at the front desk,” Gray said. “I didn’t pay it any attention. People stand at the desk all the time.”
This time was different though.
“I saw that he had a bandanna on his face and a gun,” she said. “He started rushing at me and I ran, but I lost my balance and fell.”
Gray said the man then dragged her into the office by her ankles and forced desk worker Jada Hollingsworth to come along.
“He told us to give him our money so we emptied our purses,” Gray said. I didn’t have any cash and (Hollingsworth) had six dollars.”
She said the assailant then threatened her and Hollingsworth and made them get on their hands and knees at gun point.
“If you move I’ll blow your heads off,” the man said according to Gray. She said he requested the money from the laundry card machines in the office.
Gray said the masked man then started talking to someone named Jake before leaving her and Hollingsworth back in the office.
She said the men rummaged around up front for a while and she could hear them mumbling to one another.
The ladies then called public safety and remained in the office until about 10:10 a.m. when they arrived.
Gray said the public safety officers checked the building, stopped some people to take reports and then an officer escorted her home.
She also said she probably wouldn’t be able to identify the assailant because he only had his eyes exposed and ordered the two ladies not to look at him.
As for the other man, Gray said a resident that was in the office that day later told her she saw a white man sitting outside the laundry room.
Gray said the resident told her the man jumped off the couch when she entered the building and started asking her questions about the office. The resident left out the back door according to the account.
The Memphis Police Department is investigating the case, but has no suspects.
The assailant’s familiarity with the surroundings was enough to make Gray believe the culprit was someone who knew the campus.
“I think it was someone who knew someone or someone who had visited here because he knew about the laundry card machine,” Gray said.
Residents place their laundry cards and the amount of cash they wish to keep into the laundry card machine. When they are ready to use the card, they put it into the washer or dryer and the desired amount is taken from the card.
Associate dean of students and residence life and dining services Danny Armitage would not speculate as to who the man that got away with Gray’s driver’s license and Hollingsworth’s debit card might be.
“It’s a very unusual situation,” Armitage said. “I’ve never known that to happen in any residence hall.”
In an effort to prevent future criminal occurrences in the area, the family housing community is organizing a neighborhood watch.
An MPD representative will meet with residents and those interested to develop a watch program in the South Campus Community Building March 19 at 5:30.
