NYPD: Man sought for questioning in burglary at St. John’s University campus on Staten Island

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The NYPD is asking for the public’s help to identify an individual sought for questioning in connection with a burglary reported at St. John’s University on Grymes Hill.

In a video supplied to the media by the NYPD, a man is seen taking a big-screen TV down from a wall at the university at 300 Howard Ave.

The burglary occurred on April 13 at about 12:40 a.m. when an unknown individual entered a building at the university through an unlocked front door, according to a statement from the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Once inside, the individual removed a large television before fleeing the campus on foot and then in an unknown vehicle, according to the police statement.

No injuries were reported.

Police described the individual sought as a male with a light complexion and a slim build. He was seen wearing a gray-hooded sweater, a gray hat, dark-colored jeans and white-and-black sneakers.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.

All calls are strictly confidential.

UNIVERSITY IS CLOSING

Over 400 people gathered on the Great Lawn of the college on Sunday to bid a fond and bittersweet farewell to the Staten Island campus, after 53 years of serving students on the 16.5-acre property, as the school prepares to officially cease academic operations at the end of this month.

St. John’s first announced it would close the Grymes Hill campus in 2022, citing a 63% decline in enrollment, exacerbated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Staten Island school, which originally opened in 1934 as Notre Dame College, a Catholic undergraduate institution for women, is equipped with enough classroom space to accommodate thousands, but as of fall 2021, enrollment at the Staten Island campus had slipped to just 861.