ST. LOUIS — St. Louis police still trying to find the people who broke into a college basketball team's travel van near the Gateway Arch.
The Anderson University (Indiana) team was heading to the Webster University campus on Friday to play in the Webster Tip-Off Classic when they stopped at the Arch to take a team photo.
The 17 players and their coaches left the bus at around 2 p.m. for about 20 minutes. The bus was parked between the Gateway Arch Riverboats and the Arch.
That's when the break-in happened. The driver door of the Anderson University van was damaged, according to police.
"We walked up to the van and the doors, they were open basically. Our kids are telling me all of our bags are missing. So all of our stuff had been taken," Morgan said.
Multiple electronics, driver's licenses and freshman Kaibre Stephan's social security card was stolen. In addition, the team's jerseys and shoes that they needed to play in the tournament were also stolen.
"I kind of thought it was a joke. I thought oh maybe the coaches are just playing a prank on us. They're just trying to get us ready," Stephan said. "At the same time, I was like, they wouldn't do that. That's not them."
One of the players was able to track an electric device to a dumpster of a nearby restaurant.
A parent found all of the personal items inside.
Stephan said her parents, who came to St. Louis to watch her play, helped report the stolen credit cards right away.
Stephan had advice for her fellow collegiate athletes.
"Make sure you take everything with you," Stephan said. "Make sure you're not leaving anything valuable around. It was a weird fear that was instilled in me that weekend. Where I didn't feel safe anywhere I went. That's not a knock to St. Louis because that could happen anywhere."
"I think St. Louis is still a great city," Douglass said. "All the teams that we meet and interact with, they're so fun to play against. Literally on the phone like nope we have jerseys we have old ones. We're going to cover you. I think everyone there is so great. It was just an unfortunate situation that happened."
Anderson will be facing off against Ohio Northern tomorrow for their next game.
A GoFundMe page for the team has been started to try and help replace the stolen jerseys and personal items.
St. Louis police are still investigating the van robbery. They said they would provide an update on the investigation on Wednesday.