FAU Police Investigating Armed Robbery That Began On Campus

BOCA RATON (CBSMiami) -- Campus police at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton said they're looking into allegations that a man was forced to drive off campus Wednesday, withdraw money from a bank then beaten and left in Coconut Creek.

Deputy Chief Sean Bremer would not confirm if the victim is a student at the school but he did say that the campus is safe.

"(Students) don't have to worry about being afraid on campus or anything like that," Bremer told reporters. "We have increased our patrol on our campus. Our presence has been increased."

Bremer said the victim told police that the incident began near the school's recreation center.

"He was in the parking lot on our campus when he was surrounded by black males that he says ordered him to get into his car," Bremer said. "He was taken to an off-campus bank where he was ordered to withdraw some money."

Students showed CBS4 News the text alert they received from police around 10:30 Wednesday evening. Student Alfredo Solorzano said the allegations are surprising.

"It's just kinda crazy that something like that could happen on a college campus like that that's secured," he said.

Student Matt Patten says the University Police does a good job of policing a campus with tens of thousands of students.

"I do feel that it is a very safe campus, especially with the alerts and everything how well they take care of us," Patten said.

For students and staff, this is the second scare in a week.  Student Dorian Weiss showed us a text alert from last Saturday alerting students of an armed robbery in a school building. She's wondering if she's safe on campus.

"Luckily I'm not on campus at night and I will try not to be seeing as that I'm by myself when I go here," Weiss said. "I wouldn't want to be on campus by myself. I wouldn't."

FAU says they reached out to the victim and has offered help to him and his family. Police tell us the man was taken to the hospital for treatment for his injuries.

Campus police say they offer walking escorts for students for night in addition to having more officers patrolling the campus.