EDINBURG – Several University of Texas Rio Grande Valley students are on alert after several break-in incidents at student housing.

Police said a student woke up early Wednesday morning to find someone she didn’t know in her room. They are advising students to keep their doors locked.

News of the burglary spread quickly among students.

“I don’t feel safe because I mean I know we should lock our doors,” UTRGV freshman Julia Moctezuma said.

Moctezuma said she was glad her roommate was safe after the incident.

“She said someone walked in her room, and she was like, ‘Who are you? What are you here for? And he was like, ‘I’m looking for someone,’” she said.

UTRGV Police Chief Raul Munguia said the intruder also took money from the student’s purse. He said they’re on the lookout for the suspect.  

“We’ll be looking at our video cameras in the area to see who’s moving around at the time,” he said.

Chief Munguia said not locking those doors is common for students.

“They won’t lock their doors because they like their friends coming and going as they please… They don’t lock their doors and that’s always been a challenge for us,” he said. “The thing is they take that habit that they developed in the dorm, to when they moved to the apartment complexes.”

Monctezuma and other students said they’re going to change their routine.

“I’m going to be more cautious and look out for more things, and not just myself but probably look out for my roommates and my neighbors around and see if anything suspicious is going on,” she said.

The UTRGV freshman added she will also make sure her door is locked.

University police said they are increasing their patrol around the apartment. They will also be checking doors to see if they are locked.

A total of four burglaries happened at the same UTRGV apartment early Wednesday morning. Police said they are not sure if it involved the same suspect.

In three of the cases, victims described the suspect to be a short Hispanic man who broke in. The man asked for someone who didn’t live in the apartment and then left.

In one of the burglaries, police described a man with a mustache and a tattoo of a skull on the right side of his neck. Another possible suspect also has a tattoo on his neck.

Anyone with information on any of the cases can call UTRGV police at 956-665-7151.