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When he returned to his dorm room he took his pill but realized he had forgotten his keys in his car, and he went to grab them. Upon returning, he decided to go to SA and made sure to let his roommate know he was heading out. So far, it was an average evening for the first-year.

Will Grant crossed Englewood Avenue and walked down the street just past Hamline United Methodist Church when he thought he heard his name called. Assuming it was one of his buddies, whom he often ran into on the way to SA, he turned around and approached a group of people.

When he reached them, they asked him if he had any money. “I said, ‘No, I don’t have any money.’ They said, “You’re a fucking liar.’” Grant said he started to walk away and the perpetrators said, “Don’t you fucking walk away from us.” He said they spun him around and stabbed him in the right shoulder with a knife. When he was down, he said, they kicked his ribs, head, and side, then took $2 from his wallet and ran off toward Pascal Avenue when they thought they heard someone coming.

Grant said the attackers were African American, wearing hooded sweatshirts with the hoods up, hats cocked to the side, and baggy pants. The exact weapon was not confirmed.
After a little while, Grant said, he stumbled back to campus and made it to the Heights courtyard and rested against Osborn Hall. A few people walked by, not noticing he was bleeding. Grant said he was unable to speak.

Eventually, a couple of people stopped to talk to him and realized he was injured. Students he knew “came from nowhere” to help while someone called an ambulance. “I was really happy for what they did,” he said.

Once at the hospital, he was extensively examined, with both a CT scan and X-rays. It was confirmed by his doctor, who asked his name not be printed, that the wound did not sever anything serious. Grant was in the hospital less than 24 hours and the wound required only one staple.

Grant’s parents got a call from one of his three roommates, letting them know Grant had been stabbed and taken to a hospital, but they didn’t know which one. Safety and Security were also unsure which hospital Grant was taken to, but finally called his parents back when they found out.

“We had no idea if he was even alive,” his mother, Marlene, said.

“We felt sick to our stomachs,” Grant’s father Jim said. “It’s your worst nightmare as a parent.”

During Grant’s stay, Dean of Students Alan Sickbert visited his room, President Linda Hanson called, and his Theta Chi brothers stopped by to make sure he was OK.

Will Grant definitely plans to stay at Hamline and hopes to move into the Theta Chi house soon. He said he isn’t scared about walking at night. “Personally I’m not worried; my parents are but I’m not,” he said.

This isn’t the first time Grant has been a crime victim. “I’ve gotten mugged twice in the past two months,” Grant said. “In both experiences I got mugged, I lost $7.” He has also experienced four concussions throughout the semester. “I’ve been taking a beating this last semester,” he said.