Campus Alert Archive
Saint Joseph's

11:35 AM Lockdown for an Armored Truck Heist: Hawk Hill Sealed Off as City Avenue Chase Crosses Into Lower Merion

PApolice activityemergency notificationmedium confidence

On October 3, 2025, FBI agents and Philadelphia Police attempted to intercept three suspects preparing to rob an armored truck near a Target on Monument Road in Wynnefield Heights. The suspects fled in a white Honda Civic, triggering a high-speed chase along City Avenue into Lower Merion Township. Saint Joseph's University placed its Hawk Hill campus into lockdown at 11:35 AM EDT on instruction from Philadelphia Police. The lockdown was lifted at 1:31 PM EDT after three suspects were arrested across Philadelphia and Lower Merion. No one was injured.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Saint Joseph's University
Private R2 · PA
~9,300 studentsSJUSafe
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction136 chars
SJUSafe: Hawk Hill campus is in lockdown. Shelter in place immediately. Lock all doors. Do not leave your location until further notice.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Sent at 11:35 AM EDT on October 3, 2025, after Philadelphia Police told Saint Joseph's Office of Public Safety and Security to lock down Hawk Hill
The 'do not leave your location until further notice' phrasing is preserved word-for-word from The Hawk News reporting, though the full alert text was not published verbatim
Hawk Hill straddles City Avenue, which functions as the Philadelphia-Lower Merion border — the police chase passed directly through the campus area
UPDATESMS
Approximate reconstruction123 chars
SJUSafe: Police have detained suspects. Continue to shelter in place while investigators clear the area. Updates to follow.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Two suspects were arrested in Philadelphia and a third in Lower Merion by approximately 12:45 PM EDT
Saint Joseph's held the lockdown for about 45 minutes after the arrests while authorities cleared the chase route
Lower Merion School District schools and surrounding neighborhoods were also in shelter-in-place during this window
ALL CLEARSMS+1h 56m
Approximate reconstruction121 chars
SJUSafe: All clear. The lockdown on Hawk Hill has been lifted. All suspects are in custody. Normal operations may resume.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Issued at 1:31 PM EDT, 116 minutes after the initial lockdown alert at 11:35 AM EDT
The lockdown duration of nearly two hours is among the longest non-violent SJUSafe lockdowns on record
The all-clear coincided with similar lift-of-shelter messages from Lower Merion schools
Context

Background

On Friday, October 3, 2025, FBI agents and Philadelphia Police attempted to intercept three suspects preparing to rob an armored truck near a Target on Monument Road in the Wynnefield Heights section of Philadelphia. The suspects, noticing surveillance, fled in a white Honda Civic and led police on a high-speed chase along City Avenue — the corridor that defines the Philadelphia–Lower Merion Township border and bisects Saint Joseph's University's Hawk Hill campus. At 11:35 AM EDT, the Philadelphia Police Department instructed Saint Joseph's Office of Public Safety and Security to put Hawk Hill into lockdown via the SJUSafe alert system. The alert ordered the community to shelter in place, lock all doors and windows, and not leave their location until further notice. By approximately 12:45 PM EDT, two suspects had been arrested in Philadelphia and a third in Lower Merion. Saint Joseph's lifted the lockdown at 1:31 PM EDT — 116 minutes after the initial alert. The FBI later disclosed that the trio was tied to a multi-state armored-truck-robbery spree that had spanned Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia since June 2025, with one of the robberies netting roughly $2 million. The incident is notable as Saint Joseph's first major SJUSafe lockdown since the March 30, 2023 false-shooter incident at Drexel Library, and the first lockdown the university issued under guidance from an external law-enforcement agency rather than in response to a campus report.
Analysis

Key Findings

The Hawk Hill lockdown was initiated on direct instruction from the Philadelphia Police Department, not on the basis of a campus-originated report — an unusual command-and-control pattern
Two suspects were arrested in Philadelphia and a third in Lower Merion by approximately 12:45 PM EDT
The 116-minute lockdown duration (11:35 AM to 1:31 PM EDT) is among the longest non-violent SJUSafe lockdowns
The incident was tied to a multi-state armored-truck-robbery spree spanning Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia
The lockdown was Saint Joseph's first major SJUSafe deployment since the March 2023 false-shooter incident at Drexel Library, signaling continued tightening of cross-jurisdictional alerting protocols
Outcome
All three suspects were taken into custody — two in Philadelphia and one in Lower Merion — by approximately 12:45 PM EDT. The lockdown was lifted at 1:31 PM EDT on October 3, 2025. Investigators connected the suspects to a multi-state armored-truck robbery spree spanning Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia since June 2025.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    Campus initiates lockdown protocol (The Hawk News)
    sjuhawknews.com
  2. News
    3 suspects in custody after police chase in Philly and Montco (NBC10 Philadelphia)
    nbcphiladelphia.com
  3. News
    3 in custody after pursuit in Lower Merion, West Philadelphia prompts shelter-in-place (FOX 29 Philadelphia)
    fox29.com
  4. News
    Several schools on lockdown as police chase armored car robbery suspects (RNB Philly)
    rnbphilly.com
  5. News
    Armored Car Robbery Spree Spanned Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia: FBI (Daily Voice)
    dailyvoice.com
  6. News
    Shelter-in-place lifted in Bala Cynwyd after police chase (PHL17)
    phl17.com
Tags
police-activityarmored-truck-robberysaint-josephsphiladelphialower-merionpennsylvaniaprivate-r2sjusafeshelter-in-placefbi-investigationmulti-state-crime
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion