A female Georgetown student was sexually assaulted Saturday morning in LXR by an armed black male, according to an announcement from Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety.
The victim was smoking on a 3rd floor balcony overlooking Prospect St. at approximately 3:40 a.m when the suspect pulled her into a nearby study lounge, threatening her with a gun. The suspect, described as between 17 and 21 years old, demanded that she kiss him, according to the announcement. After the victim kissed the suspect, he released her. The victim ran to her room and called 911.
Metropolitan Police Department officers arrived within two minutes of the call, according to Vice President for Safety and Security, Rocco DelMonaco, Jr. By the time DelMonaco arrived about twenty minutes later, five MPD squad cars were on the scene. DPS officers and MPD officers searched the building for the suspect.
“MPD is taking this case very seriously,” Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson said. “They’ve moved very quickly.”
MPD could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
At a meeting held in the East Campus Underground room to address the incident Saturday evening, University administrators promised widespread changes in response to students’ security concerns. These concerns included security guards who sleep or leave their posts, entrances to East Campus that bypass the guards, and broken card-swiping machines at the entrances.
“We’re going to see a lot of changes over the summer,” DelMonaco said, citing projected improvements in technology, deployment, and increased retention of DPS officers. He added that DPS was working towards making all of the security officers Georgetown employees instead of outside contractors, though he declined to give a timetable. Security guards in East Campus are outside contractors.
“[Georgetown is] better off with our own folks,” DelMonaco said.
Several students at the meeting complained about security guards letting people into East Campus without swiping their cards and an LXR Resident Assistant said he has called DPS at least once a week to report security guards that were sleeping or absent from their posts.
The guards on duty at the time of the assault have been suspended. Assistant Director of DPS Morris Britt also noted that there had been a report of a security officer asleep on duty this afternoon.
“I moved him right away,” Britt said.
LXR and Nevils are the only residence halls at Georgetown which employ outside contractors as security guards around the clock. Two Securitas security guards are supposed to be present at all times: one at the entrance through Walsh on 36th Street and one at the entrance of LXR on 35th Street.
DelMonaco also promised to address the problem of broken card-swiping machines at the entrances to East Campus, including one that didn’t recognize DelMonaco’s GOCard when he tried to enter LXR for the meeting.
“We’ll get it replaced on Monday if not before then,” he said.
After the meeting, students walked with DelMonaco and Olson to the three unlocked entryways into East Campus which allow people entering the residence halls to bypass security guards.
In his opening statement at the meeting, DelMonaco stressed his efforts to create a “culture of awareness” at Georgetown and encouraged students to call DPS whenever they see something unusual.
Though Olson said that Georgetown’s administration is protecting the victim’s anonymity, he noted they had been providing support for her.
“There has been outreach and support,” he said.
