A suspect was taken into custody Saturday after two students were attacked near Loyola University’s campus on Chicago’s North Side.
The male suspect was arrested Saturday night, according to Chief Tom Murray, Loyola’s director of campus safety. He was in the custody of the Chicago Police Department, Murray said.
The two separate attacks occurred Friday night at around 10 p.m., university officials said in a community alert.
In both instances, the students were approached at the intersection of North Winthrop and West Granville avenues by a man who “made physical contact with them while making offensive comments of a sexual nature,” the alert said.
He then fled the scene westbound on Granville Avenue, nearly unnoticed in the busy intersection.
“It was a really nice night out, so people were walking around,” said Viola Diaz, the general manager of nearby restaurant Pete’s Pizzeria. “It happened literally right here and no one happened to see anything.”
“It's very disturbing because my employees live in this neighborhood,” Diaz continued. “They walk home all the time.”
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Students and area residents echoed that sentiment, adding that crimes like this aren’t uncommon in the neighborhood.
“It could happen to me because I live around here. I walk around this corner all the time. I was here actually last night,” Loyola student Madison Mcnahonward said Saturday.
“Because I know that happens a lot, it has become numb,” she said.
Another student, Kyle Stankoskey, called crime in the community “a sad reality.”
In the campus alert, Loyola officials said they, along with the Chicago Police Department, continue to investigate “other recent violent incidents” in the area, though they did not specify what those incidents were, or draw a connection between them and Friday’s attacks.
Authorities did not release further details, including age or identity, about the man in custody, but the alert said the suspect was described as being between the ages of 60 and 65, with a beard and was wearing dark clothing and a hat.
University officials advised students to stay alert, to be wary of unsolicited strangers, and to contact Chicago police or Campus Safety at (773) 508-6039 to report anything suspicious.
