Violent Crime Surge, Police Investigating Two Centre County Armed Robberies

Multiple police agencies in Centre County are investigating two separate armed robberies within the past week.

Officers in Patton Township are still looking for the two men who reportedly pushed a pizza delivery man to the ground and robbed him at gunpoint outside The Pointe apartment complex last Thursday.

Investigators in neighboring Ferguson Township continue their probe into a separate crime 24 hours later.

Police say two men carjacked a man in Ferguson Township, drove a silver BMW sedan to Boalsburg with the victim still inside and hit him several times in the head with a handgun.

The duo reportedly forced the man to withdraw cash from an ATM at First National Bank in Boalsburg around 9 p.m. last Friday, before taking the money and running on foot.

The recent surge of violent crimes in Happy Valley has some residents on edge.

Centre County Sheriff Denny Nau told WJAC-TV Thursday that the number of reported crimes appears to be growing with the population in Happy Valley.

“It’s a serious crime because somebody is taking something from you by force or threat,” said Nau. “If it escalates; somebody gives a little resistance and somebody ends up getting seriously injured or killed. Robberies are a serious crime and can have a penalty anywhere to 20 years of incarceration.”