Junior Raymond* said he was waiting outside Ezell’s when someone walked up and demanded that he give them a dollar. He said no, but the boy kept pushing, asking him again and again; following him into Ezell’s, down the street and to the bus stop, gathering friends as he went. After a few blocks Raymond tried to give up, bringing out his his wallet to hand over the dough.

But when the mugger saw the wallet, he tried to take the whole thing. This was too much. Raymond started walking away when a branch struck him full in the back. He turned, saw the boy brandishing the branch, and ran.

But he didn’t get far. In about a block he was trapped. They took the cash they’d originally asked for and were trying to take his phone when a woman came running out of a daycare to chase them off. Raymond snatched back his stuff before fleeing to his mom’s office.

It seems to some that experiences like Raymond’s have increased since Garfield’s return to the Central District.

While there is no consensus on the causes of this situation, ASB Vice President Mario Buty says that ASB has been discussing a theory: “Most of the people who are holding people up do not go to Garfield,” he says. “Some of them used to live in the Central District, but were forced out due to high-priced real estate, and come back feeling a certain sense of entitlement.”

He also suggests that students were coming back from Lincoln unprepared for the differences in the neighborhoods. “Kids are used to Lincoln, which is in a safer neighborhood than Garfield,” says Buty. “Kids could walk around with iPods near Lincoln with a reasonable assumption that they would not get jacked. So, a lot of kids feel something like that would not happen to them, but this situation is happening with surprising regularity.”

Especially, he says, at Medgar Evars Pool, which is where freshman Will* came running from when he burst into the Garfield gym where his brother, junior Charlie* was watching a volleyball game. Finding his brother in the crowd, he started babbling about being mugged.

According to Charlie, Will and his friends were hanging out by Medgar Evars Pool when a group of jostling, laughing boys surrounded them. The boys asked for money, and when Will and his friend Fred* said no, they started beating them up. As they began to run away, one of the muggers snatched Fred’s wallet.

After hearing the story, Charlie said that he grabbed his friend John* and they went looking to get Fred’s wallet back. They found two of the kids outside the gym, but the boys started running, and Charlie and John chased them past a police car, when the cop intervened.

That should have been the end of it, but even though Fred did not press charges on his stolen wallet, the muggers were arrested on separate offenses.

Fred and Will started getting threats in the hubbub of the hallways. “I’m bringing heat tomorrow,” said one kid in the hallway.

Finally, they had to tell the administration, but it turns out they have limited power in this situation. “[The mugging] is not happening on school grounds or during school time, so there’s not much we can do,” said Principal Ted Howard. “We have been working with the police.”

In the meantime, measures are being taken to help kids adjust. Garfield’s Black Parent Association and the PTSA held a student safety forum last Wednesday. Also, Buty suggests that “kids avoid walking alone or with iPods.”

*Name has been changed.