Woman Sexually Assaulted In Rogers Park Laundry Room
Updated at 6:30 p.m. on 1/30/2014
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A woman was sexually assaulted while doing her laundry in an apartment in Rogers Park on Wednesday evening, police said.
The 24-year-old woman was in the basement laundry room of a building in the 1200 block of West North Shore Avenue about 7:00 p.m. when an unidentified male approached her from behind and covered her eyes, police said.
The apartment is near the Loyola University campus. Loyola officials notified students of the assault via email and said the victim was not affiliated with the university.
The alleged attacker said he had a gun and demanded the woman's money, taking her keys and cell phone from her pocket, police said.
When the woman tried to fight back, he struck her head against a support beam in the room and sexually assaulted her, police said.
One tenant tells CBS 2's Dana Kozlov that the building has deficiencies that may make it unsafe. Kozlov was able to open an unlocked iron gate along the sidewalk and then gain entry to some vestibules that were not locked.
Resident Jennifer Schwartz didn't even know about the assault until she was informed by CBS 2.
"There's no not posted – nothing," she says. "How dare you allow something like that to happen in my building and not notice anybody else that they need to be hyper-aware."
Ald. Joe Moore has asked the city's Department of Buildings to inspect the apartment building.
The owner did not immediately return calls from CBS 2.
