A Paly senior is feeling the effects of violent crime after becoming the victim of a mugging on his way home from Borders in downtown.

“I saw a fist coming at my face and fell over,” said the student, who asked to be remain anonymous.

Last Month the student was walking by himself in the afternoon on the 1700 block of Bryant Street near the corner of Bryant Street and Lowell Avenue. He was walking home from downtown with his headphones in his ear and music on. The music made it easy for the attacker to sneak up unnoticed according to the student.

According to the student the man punched the student in the mouth, breaking his jaw and knocking the student down to the pavement. Without saying a word, the man snatched the student’s Borders bag, which, according to the student, contained a DVD he had just purchased. The man then fled the scene. The victim said he was suprised that the suspect didn’t go for his I-pod or wallet in the process.

“I didn’t recognize him,” the student said. “I only saw him for a few seconds.”

The suspect is described as a Hispanic male in his early 20s, approximately 6’1″ tall and around 200 lbs.

According to the student, his broken jaw will be wired shut for six weeks. The student called the police when he got home and informed them of the incident.

“I read in the Palo Alto Daily that something similar happened an hour [two hours] later, and an old man got his wallet stolen,” the student said.

According to Sergeant Sandra Brown of the Palo Alto Police department, about two hours later, an elderly man was attacked from behind and had his wallet stolen.

“We are not sure they are related since the descriptions [of the suspects] are completely different,” Brown said.

Brown said the police do not believe the two cases are related even though they occurred approximately six blocks from each other and less than two hours apart. Police say the suspects in the latter mugging were juveniles while the student’s attacker was clearly an adult.

According to the Brown, muggings or strong-arm robberies as the police call them, are not unusual in Palo Alto. The investigation into the incident continues but the police do not have any solid evidence to point to a culprit.

“There were no witnesses,” Brown said. “We went back and asked people at Borders but no one saw anything.”

The student was surprised that he was mugged and says he now will be more careful when he is out by himself.

“I’m not going to walk around alone listening to music,” the student said.