Assault, Robbery Charges for Suspect in Elderly Professor Beating

The man who Philadelphia Police say beat and robbed an elderly college professor in his office faces charges including aggravated assault, robbery and criminal trespass.

According to police, suspect Darryl Moon attacked and robbed Temple University professor Gopalakrishnan Veeraswamy, 81, inside his shared office on the second floor of Anderson Hall on Tuesday.

Officers arrested Moon, 45, along the 1500 block of W Allegheny Avenue Thursday morning. Early Friday morning, Moon was arraigned on nine counts including those mentioned above, theft, reckless endangerment, weapon possession and more charges and sent to prison in lieu of 10 percent of $500,000 bail, according to court records.

Police say Moon entered Anderson Hall, an academic building located off of 12th Street and Montgomery Avenue in a complex of buildings on the North Philadelphia campus, made his way to Veeraswamy's office around 11:20 a.m. and then allegedly punched the professor in the face before demanding his wallet while placing a knife to Veeraswamy's throat.

Police say Moon then took the wallet and punched him in the face again, causing lacerations to his face and head as well as swelling and bleeding to his brain.

(Pictured: 45-year-old Darryl Moon)

The professor was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Veeraswamy teaches Intellectual Heritage at the school. Investigators say they recovered his wallet and processed it for fingerprints.

Temple spokesman Ray Betzner called the incident an "unusual situation."

"Temple has a very, very safe campus," Betzner said. "To get into the area where this took place, an individual would have to show an ID to a guard to be able to get up into the elevator that would be up there."

While school officials have beefed up security on campus in the wake of the attack, many students are still on edge.

"Either way it's nerve-wracking,"  Temple senior Nenayre Keita said.

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