Women robbed, one sexually assaulted, near Temple

Authorities are investigating two overnight attacks on young women near Temple University, including a sexual assault of a student.

Philadelphia police said the victim in the assault, a 20-year-old woman, told investigators the attack happened after she left the university's library about 11:15 p.m. Monday.

An unknown man approached the woman from behind as she walked on the 1400 block of Carlisle Street and struck her arm with a small silver handgun, police said.

The assailant told the woman not to scream, and pushed her toward a construction area, where he assaulted her, police said. The man fled north on Carlisle after the assault.

Earlier in the night, about a block and a half away, a 23-year-old woman was robbed and assaulted by two men on the 1500 block of Thompson Street.

The woman was walking with two companions when the men approached around 10 p.m. The men grabbed the woman, threw her to the ground, took her purse, and fled, police said.

One of the women reported seeing a handgun and hearing three shots fired during the incident, but no one was hurt.

Police said they did not know if the victims were Temple students.