Suspect arrested in Wharton bldg. attack

Police suspect a juvenile male of being the knife-weilding assailant who attacked a student Sunday. Philadelphia and University Police arrested a teenage boy yesterday evening in connection with last weekend's early-morning attack on a female Penn student inside Steinberg-Dietrich Hall that has shaken the campus. Because of the suspect's age -- which was not immediately available beyond that it is under 18 -- Penn Det. Commander Tom King declined to release his name or elaborate on exactly where, when and how the suspect was arrested. The suspect, a Philadelphia resident, will likely be charged in juvenile court with aggravated assault and other related charges in the next few days, King said. The charges stem from Sunday's early-morning assault of a female student inside a basement bathroom of the main Wharton School building, allegedly by a man armed with a knife. According to police, the student managed to fight off the attacker and pushed two panic alarms, the second of which prompted the assailant to flee. His alleged motive has not been determined, though police have said that it was "probably" to rape the student. He is not being charged with sexual assault, though, because he took no specific action to indicate that he intended to rape the student. King yesterday said he was positive that police caught the right person, though he declined to say what evidence led him to believe that. "We're supremely confident," he said. "I can't use a big enough superlative to express how confident we are that this is the guy." The victim, who has declined several requests for comment from The Daily Pennsylvanian, could not be reached last night. Details about the arrest and the evidence that led to it were scarce last night. King said that the suspect's age meant he could not release any specific details about the suspect until he starts making his way through the juvenile court system. Both city and University Police officers investigated the assault. The victim's self-described best friend, Wellesley College student Elizabeth King -- who has been very critical of University Police and what she believes to be the inadequate security that led to the assault -- said yesterday she was ecstatic about the arrest. "Oh my God, I'm so happy," she said upon hearing of the arrest. "If they're beyond positive that this is the right person, then I am very grateful to the police for resolving the matter." "The longer he was out there, the longer [the victim] would have stayed scared," she added. And Undergraduate Assembly member Keri Hyde, a Nursing junior who helped the student government group draft a resolution on Wednesday urging the University to do more to address student safety concerns, said the arrest is "a big relief" to Penn students. UA Chairperson Bill Conway, who met with top University administrators yesterday to review ways to improve late-night security on campus buildings, applauded the police. "I'm extremely happy that the police did such an amazing job and got the assailant quickly," the Wharton junior said. The campus has been abuzz all week with rumors, mostly in the form of e-mails purporting to tell "the truth" about the incident and possible security lapses that led to the attack. Officials have confirmed that the first alarm the victim pressed may not have worked, but maintain that they tested all of the panic alarms in Steinberg-Dietrich on Monday and all were functioning. Friends of the victim have also decried what they claim was a slow response time by security guards in the building to the alarm.