Suspect sought in early morning sex assault at Chapel Hill parking deck

Chapel Hill police on Friday asked for the public's help to identify and find a suspect in a predawn sexual assault that occurred in a parking deck of a loft apartment complex that provides off-campus housing for students as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

According to a statement released by police, the incident occurred around 3 a.m. in the parking deck of the Shortbread Lofts, located at 333 W. Rosemary St., and a block away from Franklin Street and only half a mile from UNC's campus.

Investigators declined to say if the victim knew their attacker or if it was a random attack.

Police also did not say if the victim was a man or woman.

A police K-9 unit was called to the scene to help locate the suspect after investigators were called to the scene.

The suspect was described as a black male wearing dark clothing and standing approximately 5-feet-8-inches tall.

Anyone with information about the incident was asked to call Chapel Hill police at 919-968-2760.

According to the loft complex's website, the development is "the premium location for off-campus student housing in Chapel Hill, NC! Designed with students of UNC in mind, we’re just minutes away from campus in downtown. "

Residents say the apartment complex is comprised of university students, all of whom are now on edge.

"You always hear about it, but you never really see it happening like somewhere you live," Kila Hancock said. "It’s terrible. I just hope whoever did it gets caught."

Kristen Jones lives in the building and was upset when she heard about the incident.

"It’s definitely quite scary," she said . "I know that with a college building, there are students coming back pretty late at night."

Jones said apartment management did not tell residents about the attack, although UNC did send an alert to the campus.

"It's definitely an alarming situation, and I'm certainly quite surprised because I do know that there's pretty extensive security measures throughout the building," Jones said. "And that was a big selling point for me with the building."