Two girls sought in alleged attack on Temple University student

Police are looking for two girls in connection with an alleged assault of a Temple University student Wednesday afternoon.

The female student was walking along the 1500 block of North 13th Street, just south of the school's main campus, around 2:45 p.m., when two juvenile girls approached her from behind, Temple spokesman Brandon Lausch said.

One of the girls allegedly grabbed the victim by her shoulder and struck her in the head, Lausch said.

A nearby resident, Jim Stix, interrupted the attack, he said.

"Either that punch or the contact by their bodies threw that woman screaming to the ground," Stix told Philly.com.

Stix said he yelled at the assailants, who ran away.

"I went to the aid of the woman, who was on the ground crying and shaking," he said. "It was horrifying."

Stix took the student inside his home, then attempted to find the two girls, eventually flagging down a Temple University police car at North 13th Street and Oxford Avenue, he said.

Nothing was reported stolen, and a motive for the crime was not immediately clear. The student experienced neck soreness but did not require medical attention, according to Lausch.

No arrests had yet been made Wednesday night. Police are reviewing surveillance camera footage and "believe they have good information on which they can act," Lausch said.

Though the assault occurred within the Temple University Police Department patrol zone, the school did not send students a safety alert notifying them of the crime.

"I'm not sure if the severity of the attack – or the lack of it – is the reason, or if Temple has gone back on their promise to notify students by email of attacks nearby," Stix said.

Lausch said the school took into account "a number of factors," including the location and nature of the incident, in making the decision not to send an alert.

The attack occurred a day after a high school girl pleaded guilty to attacking a Temple student with a brick in March.