Campus Alert Archive
UT Knoxville

Armed Robbery at Lake Avenue Parking Garage Triggers UT Knoxville Timely Warning During Quiet Summer Session

TNrobberytimely warninglow confidence
Confirmed Threat

On Sunday, May 20, 2018, an armed robbery occurred at the Lake Avenue Parking Garage at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville during the summer-session quiet period. UT Police Department issued a Clery Act Timely Warning safety notice to the campus community advising students, faculty, and staff to be vigilant. The Lake Avenue Parking Garage serves the Hill, including Ayres Hall and the strip mall edge of campus. Knoxville Police later searched for the armed robbery suspect near campus, and the case became part of UTK's ongoing pattern of summer-session parking-garage and walking-corridor crime alerts.

Alerts
1
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Public R1 · TN
~29,000 studentsRave Mobile SafetyUT Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message 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 ALERTmulti-channel
Approximate reconstruction276 chars
UT Alert Timely Warning: An armed robbery has been reported at the Lake Avenue Parking Garage. Suspect is at large. Avoid the area, report suspicious activity to UTPD at 865-974-3114, and use the T-Link safety escort or RAVE Guardian app for travel between campus and parking.

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

Reconstructed: UT Knoxville's safety-notices archive logs the May 20, 2018 Lake Avenue Parking Garage incident, but the verbatim Timely Warning text from the archive is behind a SSL certificate error blocking public retrieval
T-Link is UT Knoxville's safety escort service, akin to UT Austin's SURE Walk, that provides students with walking escorts between campus and parking
RAVE Guardian is the Rave Mobile Safety personal-safety mobile app integrated with UT Knoxville's alert ecosystem
Lake Avenue Parking Garage sits at the southeastern edge of UTK's Hill district and is heavily used by graduate students, summer-session students, and visitors
Context

Background

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville is the public R1 flagship university of the University of Tennessee System, with approximately 29,000 students on a 600-acre campus that sits between downtown Knoxville and the Tennessee River. The Lake Avenue Parking Garage serves the academic 'Hill' district that includes Ayres Hall and the eastern strip of the campus near Cumberland Avenue. On Sunday, May 20, 2018 — during the quiet summer-session period — an armed robbery occurred at the Lake Avenue Parking Garage. UTPD issued a Clery Act Timely Warning safety notice per §668.46(e), which requires universities to warn the campus community about Clery crimes that pose a continuing threat. The robbery occurred during summer session when on-campus population was reduced, but Lake Avenue remains one of UT Knoxville's most-used parking garages and abuts a high-pedestrian walking corridor. Knoxville Police and UTPD coordinated the investigation and continued to search for the armed robbery suspect in the days that followed. The case fits a broader pattern of UTK summer-session parking-garage and walking-corridor crime alerts that the university addresses through its T-Link safety-escort service and RAVE Guardian personal-safety mobile app. UT Knoxville maintains a public Clery-compliant safety-notice archive that logs Timely Warning notices for every Clery-reportable crime that triggers a public advisory.
Analysis

Key Findings

UTPD issued a Clery Act Timely Warning safety notice for the May 20, 2018 armed robbery at Lake Avenue Parking Garage per §668.46(e) requirements
The incident occurred during summer session when on-campus population was reduced, but Lake Avenue remains a heavily-used parking and pedestrian corridor
UT Knoxville maintains a public Clery-compliant safety-notices archive at clery.utk.edu/safety-notices logging Timely Warnings
Knoxville Police and UTPD coordinated the investigation; the suspect was not immediately apprehended
The case fits a broader pattern of summer-session parking-garage crime alerts at UTK, addressed through T-Link escorts and the RAVE Guardian mobile app
Outcome
The May 20, 2018 robbery at Lake Avenue Parking Garage was logged in UT Knoxville's Clery-compliant safety-notices archive. UTPD issued a Timely Warning per Clery Act §668.46(e), which requires immediate warning of Clery crimes deemed to pose a continuing threat. The robbery occurred during summer session when the on-campus population was reduced, but Lake Avenue is one of UT Knoxville's most-used parking garages and abuts a high-pedestrian walking corridor. Knoxville Police and UTPD coordinated the investigation; no immediate suspect arrest was publicly announced.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    Crime and Safety Information (UT Knoxville Police Department)
    safety.utk.edu
  2. News
    Suspect arrested in armed robbery near University of Tennessee campus (WATE)
    wate.com
  3. Official
    Emergency Notification (UT Knoxville Emergency Management)
    prepare.utk.edu
  4. Clery ASR
    Safety Notices (UT Knoxville Clery Act Archive)
    clery.utk.edu
  5. Official
    Crime Information (UT Knoxville Police Department)
    utpolice.utk.edu
Tags
robberyarmed-robberytimely-warningtennesseepublic-r1ut-alertparking-garagesummer-sessionclery-act
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion