TCU students in off-campus apartments fear for safety after armed break-in attempt, thefts
Molly Berry hasn’t felt totally safe in her apartment on Sandage Avenue in Fort Worth, south of TCU’s campus, for a while.
She’s seen an escalation in thefts, attempted break-ins and unfamiliar people around the houses-turned-apartments for TCU students off campus in recent months. It started with small things. A cooler stolen from behind a house across the alley and people hanging out in the alley at night. Then a car was broken into. And later on, a different vehicle was stolen and found with the tires and steering wheel painted gold.
“So far it’s just been some stuff stolen, nothing else that police can make any arrests for,” Berry said. “But it doesn’t feel like this is a safe place, especially at night. There are so many people who don’t live here but hang out in the alleys or in front of the houses.”
She lives on a block of Sandage Avenue lined with sorority housing. Each one is home to six people, and the fraternity houses on the other side of the alley on Merida Avenue are the same.
When this week police announced two men, one armed with a gun, tried to break into a house down the street, Berry, her roommates and some of their neighbors decided they had to do something. The attempted break-in happened around 4 a.m. Sunday and was caught on a security camera.
Fort Worth police announced Thursday that one man has been arrested and faces a charge of attempted burglary in that case. The suspect, Alex Alvarez, 25, was arrested Wednesday, according to police.
Alvarez also faces charges of burglary of a habitation and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon in another incident on Feb. 7 in the same area, according to a police report. Police said that residents reported Alvarez walked around the neighborhood trying to open back doors and eventually went around to the front of a home and tried to open that door. A witness who lives in the home said that Alvarez was heard screaming “I need help” and mumbling something about gangs, according to the report.
Police said Alvarez ended up stealing some tennis shoes off the front porch and then leaving.
But safety concerns didn’t start with the attempted break-ins.
There have been at least two thefts of a grill and a bicycle, one car theft and a moped theft reported in the neighborhood since Jan. 1, according to Fort Worth police records. Students told the Star-Telegram strangers hang out in the alley behind their homes day and night, sometimes harassing them on their way to campus.
Security measures
Residents in the area said they have seen more Fort Worth and TCU police presence recently, especially after the attempted break-in. Police sometimes park outside the homes and keep watch overnight.
Some residents have also started a group chat with the sorority houses on Sandage Avenue and fraternity houses on Merida Avenue, across the alley, where the residents share stories of things they’ve experienced and what they’re doing to counteract the feelings of being unsafe.
Even with the increased patrols, the residents feel like they need to take extra steps on their own.
TCU students and their parents hired private security to patrol the area overnight. Anna Parker and her roommates, some of Berry’s neighbors, upgraded their alarm system. Several are adding additional cameras to monitor the property, and the residents of some houses have bought baseball bats and bear spray.
“We’re having to learn to use them, which is something I never thought I’d have to do,” Parker said. “But we have to do what we can to feel safer.”
Landon Sells, one of the fraternity house residents, said he and his roommates have started chaining down anything they can’t take inside, like grills and propane tanks. A grill was stolen from the back of a house at some point in January, according to a police report. Sells said his biggest concern has been theft, but he’s head from the women across the alley that their concerns have been more about being attacked or having their homes broken into.
They’re also concerned about potential gang activity in the area, noting that Alvarez appeared to say something about gangs during one of the incidents.
Fort Worth police said in Thursday’s news release that they and TCU police are continuing to investigate other crimes in the area of the university and expect to make more arrests soon.
This story was originally published February 29, 2024 at 3:42 PM.