A Georgetown student was allegedly assaulted in Burleith on onday night while walking home from campus, prompting the university to issue renewed warnings about off-campus safety.

Daniel Starck (SFS ’07) said that he was approached by three males and struck with a metal object near the intersection of R and 37th Streets around 10 p.m. The three suspects have not been caught, according to Dave Morrell, vice president for university safety.

Starck said that his walk home from campus was routine until he heard footsteps creeping up behind him, which he originally believed to belong to a friend playing a practical joke.

One of the men shouted an expletive at him, Starck said. Starck was then struck on the back and shoulder with a heavy metal object, which he said may have been a bike lock, knocking his glasses to the ground.

“It was really fast,” he said of the incident. “I wasn’t seeing stars or anything.”

Starck said that he got up and sprinted for two blocks while the assailants pursued him, but they eventually got tired and told him they would let him go. “I’m faster than at least three of the petty criminals roaming around Georgetown,” Starck said.

Starck said that he was later treated by GERMS but not taken to the hospital. He sustained bruises on his right ear and back, but said that despite some initial soreness, his injuries were not serious.

Upon returning to his home, Starck contacted both the Department of Public Safety and the Metropolitan Police Department. Officers from both forces arrived at his house, but MPD officers told him the suspects were not likely to be caught unless they developed a pattern of committing similar crimes in the neighborhood.

“There was kind of a little party over at my place,” he said.

In a campus-wide e-mail sent Tuesday night, DPS warned students not to walk alone at night and encouraged them to use the SafeRides shuttle. The university has pushed its Burleith shuttle, which it implemented in December 2005, as a major component of its efforts to deter off-campus crime.

The e-mail described all three suspects as black males, believed to be between 17 and 19 years old.

Starck said that although he didn’t believe the suspects to be Georgetown students, they “didn’t look really out of place” when he first saw them walking on Reservoir Road a few minutes before the attack.

Morrell said he was unsure whether any of the suspects are Georgetown students, but said this was unlikely. “We haven’t come to a conclusion,” he said. “We don’t have too many 17-year-olds on campus.”

Starck said that the incident will not significantly affect his behavior, but noted that he took more caution when walking home from Lauinger Library on Tuesday evening.

“I was giving a good look over my shoulder,” he said.

– HOYA Staff Writer John Swan contributed to this report.