A series of crimes hit Georgetown last week when two students were violently robbed, one at gunpoint, and a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who may be a suspect in three other Northwest D.C. sexual assault cases.
Dan Shindle (COL ‘09), said that at 1:15 a.m. on Friday, as he was walking home down 35th St. from The Tombs, he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. Within seconds, Shindle said, three black males in their twenties emerged from what seemed like different hiding places and attacked and robbed him.
“[One] got right in front of me and pointed a semi-automatic at me,” Shindle said. “He said, ‘Shut up and empty your pockets.’ Another black male came up from behind me and started to strangle me with his forearm. A third guy approached and started to go through my pockets … I couldn’t really see much because the entire time the guy who was strangling me was holding me up off the ground.”
The suspects stole Shindle’s wallet, keys, passport, and cellphone out of his pockets. The next morning, a resident near Dent Place discovered his wallet, emptied of cash but not credit cards, keys, and passport on a lawn. His phone was not recovered.
In a different robbery, which occurred at around 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 3rd, according to a Public Safety Alert released by the Department of Public Safety the next day, a student walking in Glover Park was strangled from behind by an unknown male. The man threatened, “Don’t say anything,” and strangled her until she fell unconscious. After the attack the victim awoke to discover her backpack had been stolen.
According to another DPS Public Safety Alert, a student awoke early Friday morning in her residence in Burleith to find an unidentified man in her bed with his arm around her. He left her house as soon as she woke up. The victim found that her front window was open and that there were muddy footprints inside the apartment. The victim notified MPD, which notified DPS. According to an MPD crime report, she was topless as she was caressed by the suspect.
The suspect in the Burleith sex offense case may be the same unidentified man who is suspected in three sex offenses that occurred within a mile of this one since January, according to a Public Safety Alert released by MPD’s main branch on Tuesday. In each case women awoke early in the morning to find a white or Hispanic man between 5’10” and 6’0” in her house. Officer Helen Andrews said that MPD’s main branch has not received any tips since Tuesday.
According to University spokesperson Julie Green Bataille, DPS patrols have increased in the areas where the crimes occurred. Vice President of University Safety Rocco DelMonaco’s assistant Akua Jones said the increased patrols will be continuous from now on.
DelMonaco said that DPS Director Jeffrey Van Slyke has reached out to the victims and is offering ongoing support. Van Slyke declined to comment on any of the cases.
Shindle has continued to take the same route home, and on Wednesday was comforted to see a DPS car drive by.
“I guess I’m only a little disappointed in the fact that everyone kept saying, ‘You shouldn’t have been walking home alone,’” Shindle said. “I realize I shouldn’t be walking home alone. But it seems like the three of them had been staked along Dent Street for a while … If even a DPS car or Metro would have gone by before I got there, I think it would have been enough to scare them away.”
shy;— Additional reporting by Marie-Camille Negrin
