University police are investigating an armed robbery that occurred around 9:30 p.m. Thursday night.

The department has obtained video footage of the suspects taken by the Illini Union’s security cameras, but no other information has been obtained yet, said Lt. Skip Frost of the department. The footage will be distributed to area departments in hopes of identifying the suspects.

“It’s not the greatest (quality), but it’s still better than nothing,” Frost said.

A 20-year-old man was walking north on the Quad when three men, one displaying a knife with a 4-inch blade, approached him and told him to walk between Noyes Laboratory and the Chemistry Annex, according to a police report.

The man holding the knife demanded the victim’s backpack and repeatedly asked for his credit card numbers. When the victim told the suspect he could not remember the numbers, his life was threatened.

The suspect told the victim to walk to the south end of the Quad and sit down.

The suspect holding the knife began walking away in the direction of the Illini Union carrying the backpack. The other two men stayed behind and waited for the suspect holding the knife to whistle for them to join him.

The victim was not harmed during the robbery.

The department was “really taken by surprise by this” robbery because no similar crimes have occurred in the area recently, Frost said.

“Obviously we’re not surprised by much,” he said. “We’re taking this very seriously and have every intention of increasing our presence and looking for crimes such as this.”

The victim described his offenders as black males, one about 5 feet 10 with a thin build and a mustache. He was wearing dark clothes and a hoodie at the time of the robbery. The second suspect was described as 5 feet 7 with medium build. The third suspect was described as 6 feet 2. Both men wore dark clothing and masks that partially covered their faces.

The University department does not decrease their campus presence during the summer, though they may concentrate on different duties such as security inspections since fewer students live in University Housing.

As always, Frost encouraged people on campus to remain alert and to call an emergency number as soon as possible if they are victimized.

“The sooner we know about it, the better our chances get at making an immediate arrest,” he said.