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Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Pepper spray attacker still sought after street assaults

Published 2011-10-11T18:44:00Z”/>

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Juniper Rose

A pepper spray attacker is still on the loose more than two weeks after his last reported attack on a Chico State student.

Chico police officers are patroling the south-campus area where the attacks on two female Chico State students took place, said Chico police Sgt. Rob Merrifield. Other law enforcement agencies have been informed of the case and the suspect’s description, and are also on the look out for him.

Despite search efforts, there has been no progress toward finding the attacker, Merrifield said.

Gathering a better idea of who the attacker is would help to find him, however lack of information makes it difficult to make any reliable assumptions, he said.

“All we know is it was a white male in his early 20s about 6 feet tall and wearing a dark hoodie,” Merrifield said.

Still, Chico police are doing their best to locate and arrest the attacker before he is able to do it again, he said.

Because the attacker has focused on two different areas in the same neighborhood, it is likely that he either lives in or is comfortable with that area, Merrifield said. Either that, or he has been targeting the area because it is where the type of victims he is looking for would primarily be.

Based on his past attacks, the attacker is targeting females who are alone and in their late teens or early 20s, Merrifield said.

The attacker is most likely targeting these people for the purpose of kidnapping, and the logical reason for kidnapping in this case would be sexual assault, Merrifield said.

Typically attackers in these types of scenarios are socially incompetent, Merrifield said.

“A case like this where he doesn’t try to talk a woman into doing anything but just goes right to trying to disable them could be an indication that the attacker isn’t comfortable talking to women or doesn’t feel like he could talk them into a position where he could take advantage of them,” Merrifield said.

Some have suggested that the attacks may be gang related, said one of the victims, a sophomore communications major who was attacked Sept. 25 on Hazel Street.

“The whole scenario – the nice car, totally blacked out and set for something, the group of guys in the car – leads a lot of people to think it is some sort of gang initiation,” the woman said. “There were at least three people in the car, and honestly, I think that they were going to kidnap me, and then probably gang rape me and leave me.”

The victim said she thinks the only reason she was able to get away is because she didn’t react how the man expected.

“I just had that mind set like ‘This is not happening,'” the victim said. “I was on the ground kicking him, and as I jumped up and shoved him I remember registering, ‘Oh, he’s surprised.'”

While only two attacks were on the police report, there were more attacks that were not reported, the victim said.

“It just sucks that people don’t report things when they should,” she said.

If all the attacks had been reported it would have spread the word quicker and could have prevented more attacks from occurring, the woman said.

“I wish the other girls would say something,” she said. “It’s just different when you know someone that it has happened to.”

Hearing things like this first hand raises awareness in a different way than hearing something through a police report, said Christopher Navarrete, a senior music education major.

“It’s really good when a victim tells its story,” he said. “It gets people’s ears opening up and makes us realize we are all potential victims.”

It is important for people to know they should not walk alone at night no matter what the circumstances are, said Brooke Wolford, a junior music education major.

“I never walk home alone anymore, but I used to,” she said. “It gets late, and some people don’t have any other options. The latest bus runs at 9, and a lot of people don’t have someone they can get a ride from at night.”

For some students, awareness is not enough.

After the attacks, fifth-year Geoffory Felver got a license to carry a concealed weapon.

Not only will the weapon protect him from attack, but it also puts him in a position to be able to help protect others, Felver said.

“Now I carry a concealed weapon whenever I’m walking around downtown,” he said. “I always have my firearm – I’m ready.”

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<strong>Juniper Rose can be reached at</strong>

<em>[email protected]</em>

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