The Boston University Police Department issued a crime alert Friday morning to residents of Warren Towers at 700 Commonwealth Ave. after police received a report from a female student who observed a person videotaping or photographing her while she was showering.
Residents of all three towers received an email and voicemail detailing information about the report made to BUPD earlier that day.
The victim, who was showering at about 7 a.m. “ . . . observed a smartphone device on the shower floor apparently recording her,” according to the email issued to residents. The female student said she saw a hand retrieve the phone and flee.
Captain Robert Molloy said the incident occurred on the 17th floor of Shields “C” Tower.
This incident comes after two similar reports of “peeping Tom” occurrences at Claflin Hall in West Campus on Jan. 22 and Jan. 25, in which unknown suspects used smart phones in attempts to photograph two different female students while showering.
Despite parallels between the three cases, the crime alert stated “ . . . no information has been collected to suggest that the incidents are related.”
“We don’t know if it’s the same person,” Molloy said in a phone interview with The Daily Free Press.
Molloy said there are connections between the incidents, but that there are no suspects at this time.
“It’s similar because it’s a phone and it [took place] in a shower,” Molloy said.
College of Arts and Sciences freshman Doris Sheynfeld, who lives in C Tower, said she didn’t believe the crime alert was real at first. Though the incident occurred in the communal bathroom, she said she probably wouldn’t be able to avoid being alone in the showers.
“I think I just am going to be more cautious,” Sheynfeld said. “I started thinking about that happening to myself and I got really scared.”
School of Education freshman Jessica Schmidt, a C Tower resident, said she was taken aback by the crime alert.
“I was very alarmed and disturbed that someone at BU would do such a thing,” Schmidt said in a phone interview.
Schmidt said she would be more aware of her surroundings.
“I mean, it’s very concerning that this person’s on the loose,” Schmidt said. “I really want to be aware of my surroundings. Sometimes you forget that you’re on a college campus.”
Sheynfeld said she is optimistic about police’s ability to uncover who is behind the incident.
“I know in Warren they probably have like, fifteen cameras when you walk in, so they could probably track [suspects] that way,” Sheynfeld said.
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