A 21-year-old UW-Madison student was viciously attacked by two men late Tuesday night on the 600 block of West Mifflin Street, according to the Madison Police Department.

MPD public information officer Joel DeSpain said the incident took place at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night. He said two black males, both in their early 20s, reportedly jumped the student, as one bear-hugged and repeatedly punched the victim, while the other tried to rob the student of his wallet.

According to the police report, the student was able to yell and fight back. In doing so, DeSpain said the victim escaped the robbery, but did suffer cuts to his arm. DeSpain also said when police arrived on the scene, the two suspects had fled and the student appeared “visibly shaken.”

“Here you have a guy … 9:30 at night, walking alone, coming back from studying and he runs into these guys,” DeSpain said, adding two summers ago, Madison saw a huge spike in patterned robberies downtown, especially among intoxicated white males.

DeSpain said this case is a bit more alarming because the victim was just simply walking home at a decent hour in the night.

Still, MPD Lt. Joe Balles said though the attempted robbery happened in the same general area as several residential burglaries, a connection between the two is unlikely.

He said West Mifflin Street, West Dayton Street and Langdon Street have been some of the hardest hit areas as far as burglaries are concerned, but noted this was probably a unique case.