“The first thing that comes to my mind is just you know get the hell out of here. Like run.”
Temple student Elijah Glovas-Kurtz was on his way to his car after a night class last Tuesday, when a group of four teenagers attacked him with a metal pipe.
“Right as he’s at my side he just turns around punches me in the back of the head and then the kid to his right strikes me in the head with like a metal pipe.”
His car was parked right off main campus, near 12th and Master. He was just a block from safety when the teens attacked Glovas-Kurtz the first time.
“I had this thought that I cannot believe this is happening – how is this happening why is this happening, is this a dream…I was getting attacked a block off campus for no reason,” he said.
Glovas-Kurtz was attacked three times by the group. He ran away, slipped and fell, and they caught up with him. It happened again on the 1200 Oxford Street, where a Temple bike officer witnessed the incident and called for backup. “I really think they were trying to just knock me out and take whatever I had,” said Glovas-Kurtz. The teens walked off before Temple Police arrived on scene. “You take three strikes to the head and they’re like ‘oh this kid isn’t going down.'”
Glovas-Kurtz suffered multiple blows to the head, and required nine staples in his head. Luckily, he did not suffer a concussion or any other injuries.
And he’s not the only one who has fallen victim in recent weeks.
Colin Field was leaving a party on 15th and Master just a few days prior to the assault of Glovas-Kurtz, walking with a bunch of friends when they were stopped and patted down looking for money. Field said things took a turn when the assailants made a comment to one of his female friends.
“They made the comment to her about which one of us was her boyfriend and that’s when they figured out that we were all gay they started pacing back and forth behind us following us at a rapid pace, saying hell no.”
While Field remained uninjured in the attack, his friend was not so lucky.
“They started to beat him pretty bad – he got a black eye, they tore part of his ear.”
Both Field and Gloves-Kurtz plan to remain vigilant when walking at night, and say they are ready to move forward.
“Definitely the fear is still there but I’m a commuter so I have to drive here I have to park somewhere,” said Glovas-Kurtz.
Director of Campus Safety Charles Leone told Temple Update that the two incidents were not related, but they do have one male teenager as a person of interest in the incident on 12th and Oxford. Temple and Philadelphia Police are continuing to investigate both assaults.”
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