The investigation into a rape reported near campus at roughly 2 a.m. Thursday morning has turned up few leads and has left some questioning whether the campus should have been alerted to a potential threat.
Sgt. Josh Mecimore, spokesman for Chapel Hill Police Department, said police are looking for two black men, one of whom has a scar on his face, in connection with the crime.
He said police do not know if the woman who reported the rape, a 27-year-old who is not a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, knew her attacker.
“I think it’s a very traumatic situation, and so we’re still waiting to get information,” he said.
Meanwhile, some students have criticized campus officials and media outlets for not informing the campus when the rape was reported.
“We realized that there was no Alert Carolina, and it didn’t show up in The Daily Tar Heel until almost a day later,” said Cassandra Etter-Wenzel, a UNC junior. “This is something that really should have been reported.”
Based on police reports, though the incident occurred in an on-campus alley near Franklin Street, the young woman reported it off campus in an area near Cosmic Cantina.
Jeff McCracken, chief of the Department of Public Safety, said because the incident originated off campus, Chapel Hill police are handling it — and based on the information available at the time, the department decided not to release an Alert Carolina warning in response to the attack.
He said the department didn’t believe the circumstances met the criteria for issuing a warning to the campus.