WARRENSBURG, Mo. — A number of female students at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg are closely watching their backs after a fellow student told police two men grabbed her outside a residence hall.
The female student says she was outside near South Todd Hall, a co-ed dorm, around 6:30 Tuesday night when the two guys she’d never seen before grabbed her arm and then attempted to raise her shirt. Police say when the victim screamed, the men ran off.
As a result of the on campus assault, UCM freshman Sarah Garver is now holding tightly on to her pepper spray when she steps outside her dorm.
“Once I got to campus, I got one. It’s kind of concerning. I don’t want to be outside at night when this happens,” Garver said.
Campus police say the woman wasn’t hurt nor does she live at South Todd Hall.
“Whether they were walking home from class or wherever, the fact that something like that can happen is kind of scary and disheartening,” said graduate student Clifton Holmes.
On Wednesday police interviewed her further about the assault, which a UCM spokesman says is the first such crime to happen on campus this semester.
“I’m trying to walk with friends at all times basically like a big group of people,” said sophomore Samantha Busken.
And that’s what campus police urge all students to do, especially if they’re out past dusk. Busken had just finished eating at South Todd Hall around the time Tuesday’s assault occurred.
“It’s scary to think that it was at 6:30 at night and it’s still light outside,” Busken said.
Police don’t know if the two men are UCM students or not. Right now, police have very little to go on those two guys who are still out there. Meantime, they’re reminding students in case of an emergency remember you can always call police by using the emergency call boxes.
