A student reported being sexually assaulted at gunpoint on the third floor of LXR Hall early Saturday morning, launching a Metropolitan Police Department investigation and spurring Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety to consider changes to its security protocols.

According to a public safety alert from DPS, at 3:40 a.m. a male assailant attacked a student, who was granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the incident, while she was smoking on a public balcony.

The suspect then forced her into the floor’s common room where he “digitally penetrated” her, according to the MPD incident report.

When she resisted, the assailant, described in the report as a black male of medium complexion between 17 and 20 years old, “touched … her leg area with a black-colored gun.”

The assailant then forced her to give him a kiss, the alert said, and then the victim was let go and allowed to run to her room, where she locked her door and called 911. The victim declined to comment.

A student on the third floor of LXR reported seeing a man matching the description of the assailant on the floor early Sunday morning, but no arrests were made as of last night.

University administrators and East Campus Residence Life officials held a meeting for approximately 25 LXR residents at 9:30 p.m. Saturday night to answer questions and discuss increased security procedures. Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson, Vice President for University Safety Rocco DelMonaco and DPS Assistant Director Morris Britt spoke and fielded questions.

At the meeting, DelMonaco declined to comment on the nature of the ongoing investigation but noted that five MPD cars responded when he arrived at the scene approximately 40 minutes after a 911 call was placed to MPD. He said the university is working closely with MPD, which he said has taken the lead in the investigation, to respond to concerns and insure campus safety.

“The fact this happened is very disconcerting, and if there is a vulnerability we want to identify and address it,” he said.

Following several instances of stolen property from LXR in 2005, the university hired professional security guards from Securitas Services to guard the dormitory instead of DPS officers. DelMonaco said at the meeting that the university would be reviewing the contract in place with Securitas Services.

Britt noted that the Securitas officer who was on duty at the time of the incident was “immediately removed.”

DelMonaco said that at least one DPS officer will remain in LXR at all times for “probably for the rest of the semester.”

“We certainly want to have as many DPS officers at these [residence hall] checkpoints as possible, and that begins by hiring more DPS officers,” he said.

According to Britt, the university has increased patrols throughout campus since the incident. One DPS officer and one Securitas officer already patrol the East Campus area every night.

any students at the meeting raised concerns about a lax policy of checking GOCards, as well as a broken GOCard machine in the LXR lobby and three doors to the courtyard that do not lock properly.

In response to multiple reports of guards falling asleep during the night, DelMonaco said this is “simply and utterly unacceptable” and said that the GOCard swiping machine would be “fixed by Monday.”

As of yesterday, the GOCard machine was replaced and at least one of the doors was fixed.

Olson said the university has offered outreach and support to the victim and is also calling in this case for swift action by MPD.

“We pushed MPD to run as fast as they could in this investigation,” he said.

DelMonaco encouraged students to raise their awareness and call DPS if they notice anything suspicious, something he said has been lacking on campus.

“I’ve checked with DPS, and we really don’t receive a lot of calls [about incidents like these]. We need to create a culture of awareness on campus,” he said.

DelMonaco responded to a student’s question about communication with the university by providing his office line – 202-687-8291 – for students to contact him directly.

After the meeting, Olson and DelMonaco also accompanied students as they pointed out problems with doors to them.

PD could not be reached for repeated requests for comment.

– Hoya Staff Writer Kathleen Nahill contributed to this report.

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