Thief robs ASU students during dorm fire

TEMPE, AZ - A fire on the sixth floor of the Palo Verde East dorm forced ASU students out of their rooms Monday morning.

It turns out, it wasn’t just smoke lurking in the halls.

As students were heading to safety, a thief was heading into their rooms and robbing them.

Tyler Johnson said someone crept into his third floor room and stole his laptop.

“When I first noticed it was gone I thought maybe my suite mate had played a prank on me or something - like hidden it from me,” said Johnson.

But Johnson said someone also stole his roommates expensive head phones and ASU police tell ABC15 another student also had their laptop stolen.

“I believe somebody had found their way into my room like while everyone was evacuating and before the fire dept got there because otherwise the fire department would have found people were still in the building,” said Johnson.

Investigators call the fire accident but police call the thefts a crime of opportunity.

“Everybody was just trying to evacuate. Nobody was really being overly protective of their things because we're just ordered to get out of the building as quickly as possible,” said Johnson.

Anyone with information that might help investigators is asked to call the ASU Police Department.