Police: Denison students on scavenger hunt chased Pitt coed

Tom Davidson | Friday, April 12, 2019 2:31 p.m.

The Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland

They were challenged to “scare someone” in Pittsburgh.

Now, four Denison University students are banned from University of Pittsburgh property after campus police tracked them down and found out one of the suspicious incidents reported in Oakland this week was prompted by a scavenger hunt the out-of-town students told police they were on.

An update to a previous crime bulletin has been issued by the University of Pittsburgh Police Department: https://t.co/dkiPunICIv

— Pitt Police (@PittPolice) April 12, 2019

Pitt police said they notified Denison officials about the students’ conduct.

“We are cooperating with the University of Pittsburgh Police on their investigation of this activity on their campus,” wrote Ginny Olderman Sharkey, director of news and external relations for Denison.

Sharkey would not comment further on the incident, saying “we do not provide public information on open investigations.”

The students, Richard Calder Buonocore, Matthew Redmond, Otto Laakonen and Jack Armstrong, were driving a dark silver Honda sedan at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday when two of the men got out of the car and chased a female student near the intersection of Fifth and Ruskin avenues, Pitt police said.

They didn’t say anything, and no one was hurt. But it was one of three suspicious incidents that prompted beefed up patrols in Oakland this week and a warning for students to be careful when walking around town.

As part of the scavenger hunt, the Denison students were also supposed to visit Pittsburgh sports venues, take selfies at bridges and publicly insult prominent Pittsburgh sports figures, Pitt police said.