Shortly after noon on Wednesday, June 15, four boys, ages 9 to 11, taunted and then tried to rob a 58-year-old woman as she was walking in the 2900 block of East Washington Avenue. They were later arrested and tentatively charged, as juveniles, with strong-armed robbery.
At about 10:30 p.m. on Monday, May 29, a 21-year-old woman was grabbed while walking on North Bassett Street in downtown Madison, dragged to an alley and raped. Her assailant fled on foot.
Around 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17, a 59-year-old woman walking in the 600 block of South High Point Road – one of the busier streets on the west side – was robbed at gunpoint by a man who had approached her from behind. He, too, fled on foot.
I bring up these attacks not to make anyone paranoid, but as a reminder of sorts that incidents like these aren’t all that unusual in a fast-growing city of 208,000 – even one with a relatively low crime rate like ours.