Drexel U. student fends off attacker

A female student was attacked in her home at 46th and Spruce streets. Penn students living off campus recently said that they feel less safe in the wake of the attempted sexual assault of a Drexel University student in her University City apartment last week. The young woman, a Drexel graduate student, was alone in her apartment on the 4600 block of Spruce Street at about 1:45 a.m. Thursday morning when an intruder attacked her as she exited the shower, according to Special Victims Unit Lt. Michael Boyle. "She exited the shower and she noted at that time that there was an intruder in her room," Boyle said. Boyle said Tuesday that the intruder knocked her to the floor with what may have been a walkman and unsuccessfully attempted to sexually assault her. "He threatened to hurt her, to kill her," Boyle said. The intruder appeared to be a black male in his mid-to-late teens, about 6'2" and 130 lbs, although Boyle said the student did not get a good look at him. The woman was able to kick him and get back on her feet, Boyle said. She ran into the building's common hallway, where she sought help from neighbors. According to Boyle, the intruder then exited the building, probably in the same manner in which he entered, which was through an unlocked second-floor balcony door. The woman was treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and released that morning, but was not seriously injured. Boyle said that the important thing is that "she was able to fight him off successfully and he fled." He also noted that the Philadelphia Police Department, although investigating the matter, has "nothing that would lead [it] at this time to an apprehension." The division then called homicide investigators to examine the scene for evidence of a connection to the still-unsolved May 1998 murder of Wharton doctoral student Shannon Schieber. Boyle said that while the two cases share some similarities -- specifically that the attack was focused on a student and entry was made through an unlocked second-floor balcony -- the dissimilarities between the two cases outweigh any potential connections. "It appears at this time that they're unrelated," Boyle said. Penn students living off campus were shocked to hear that the assault occurred nearby and many said that while they generally felt safe, an incident like this strikes particularly close to home. Oliver Carley, a second-year City Planning graduate student and resident of the 4200 block of Walnut Street, said the attempted assault did make him feel more nervous living off campus. "It's a little more disturbing that it happened inside of someone's house," Carley added. College senior Mary Mitchell, a resident of the 4300 block of Spruce Street agreed, saying "when anything happens that's negative, and it happens in you're home, it's a little bit more scary." And Shawna Spears, a first-year Nursing graduate student also on the 4300 block of Spruce Street, said the news was shocking because it happened only three blocks from her apartment. "I'm not fearful; cautious is probably a better word for it," she said.

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