The Temple community was shaken last weekend when four students were assaulted in three separate instances. Friday afternoon, a 19-year-old female student was walking with her boyfriend on the 1600 block of Norris Street when a group of minors began harassing her. Philadelphia Police released a surveillance video of the suspected minors, who began yelling at the couple and pulling the female student’s hair and earrings until one of them hit the student twice in the face with a brick. The student suffered dislocated teeth, a fractured jaw and a minor concussion. She was rushed to Hahnemann University Hospital, where she underwent emergency oral surgery to keep her teeth in place.
The same evening, two other female Temple students were assaulted five blocks from the first attack. One was walking home from the subway, the other looking down at her phone and both were struck in the face during the assault. The woman who was distracted by her phone went to fill out a report at the police station on 17th Street, and the other did not report the incident until Sunday when she heard about the brick assault.
A statement was emailed to the Temple community Sunday night with some information about the attack and some safety tips, but no TU Alert was issued.
“The Alerts are really designed to be an immediate threat, or some immediate action or change in behavior that needs to happen on campus” said James Creedon, Senior Vice President for Construction, Facilities and Operations.
Because the students did not contact Temple police directly, it was several hours before the University was notified about the brick attack, and in the case of the other two assaults—several days.
Police did, however, announce on Tuesday afternoon—just one day after releasing the surveillance footage of the brick assault—that they had 5 of the suspects in custody. One of those arrested is believed to be the attacker used the brick as a weapon.
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