Laptop thief hits York Lanes

Michael Sholars
Features Editor
Teresa Man was having dinner at Z-Teca gourmet burrito restaurant at York University Jan. 14 when a man approached her table and, after initiating a brief conversation, picked up her laptop and ran towards Chimneystack Rd.
A Falafel Hut employee chased the thief, but they soon disappeared into the private housing unit. York Security claimed they weren’t allowed to enter the property, because the housing there does not fall within York University’s jurisdiction.
Man, a second-year design student, was one of three recent victims of theft on Keele campus. Three laptops were stolen in a 24-hour period between Jan. 13 and 14.
Less than a day earlier, two students had their laptops stolen in a pre-planned effort initiated by four people at the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) building.
Saarah Khan, a fourth-year human resources major, and Usman Farooqi, a second-year international student majoring in finance, found themselves the victims of a thoroughly coordinated group of thieves.
The two students were studying on the lower floor of TEL building around 9:30 pm Jan. 13. Farooqi’s laptop’s battery had recently died, and it was lying closed on the table in front of him. He was on the phone while using Khan’s laptop, a MacBook she had purchased the previous day, when Khan left to use the washroom.
“So this guy comes from the other side of the table, and grabs the MacBook and starts walking away,” said Farooqi. “As soon as I got out of my chair and went after him, he ran towards the Pond exit.”
Four men were involved with the thefts; according to Khan and Farooqi, two of them seized the de- vices and ran, while the other two served as lookouts and gave orders.
The four men were described as well-built black males, aged 20 to 25 years old. They were all six feet or taller, according to Farooqi.
The second runner, carrying Usman’s laptop, was “thicker and shorter,” wearing a hoodie and a denim jacket.
The first runner, carrying Sarah’s MacBook, was “well-dressed and wearing shades.”
As Farooqi pursued the man with Khan’s MacBook, he noticed movement near his table: “Behind me, there was another guy standing across the railing, and [a third] guy comes and grabs my laptop.”
Farooqi attempted to stop the second theft, but was met with violent resistance. The man raised the laptop as if he was going to strike Farooqi, and then used the moment of hesitation to escape with his accomplices.
“The guy giggled,” said Farooqi of that moment. “When the guy picked up my laptop and was charging towards me, he was giggling.”
Khan says she was in the washroom for “not even 30 seconds,” and she emerged to see “Usman running after a guy; I didn’t register what was happening at that point, I just stood there,” said Khan about her initial reaction.
“In front of me, there was this guy standing. He was looking at me and smiling […] I thought he would help or something, but then he starts yelling, ‘Oh, get the charger! Get the charger!’”
According to Farooqi, “This whole thing happened in thirty seconds – maybe a minute at the most.” All four males escaped through the doors facing Pond residence; as soon as they were gone, Farooqi called 911 while Khan sought out help. Khan noted that while Toronto Police arrived on the scene within minutes, she was frustrated with the slow response time from York Security, who’d she called shortly after.
Robert Kilfoyle, director of York University Security Services, said the incident was “an unusual case.” He went on to explain, “Typically, the laptop thefts that we see are in the libraries – that’s the primary location.”
When asked whether crime was on the rise at York, Kilfoyle said that “the cell phone snatch-and -grabs, those have definitely been on the rise. Laptop theft is a constant thing, I don’t think there has been a peak or valley, it has always been a problem.”
However, he still believes that York is “pretty safe,” and says that “blind trust [in others]” is the reason a lot of these thefts have occurred, referring to cases where York students have been leaving their laptops in the Scott Library unattended. “In a campus of this size – 50,000 undergrads – it’s not unreasonable to expect there to be some sort of unscrupulous people among us.”
As of publication date, Man, Khan and Farooqi have received no updates concerning their stolen laptops. The latter two students have expressed their concerns about feeling secure on campus from this point onwards.
“My sister might come to York in a couple of years,” said Khan. “I don’t want her to go through this.”
“Everyone who has lived [in Canada] has developed a sense of security. Getting that taken away is so much more scary than having this happen back home.”
“I don’t feel safe anywhere on campus anymore,” concluded Farooqi. “I felt safer going to university on the streets of Pakistan [than at York].”