WASHINGTON - A Trinity Washington University graduate student is recovering after a group of teenage girls attacked her, according to school officials.
The school's president is speaking out and said violence involving young people across the city has to stop.
At around 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the student was walking past the Metro bus stop on her way to class when a group of six to eight teenage girls came rushing at her from across Michigan Avenue to knock her to the ground, rough her up and steal her cell phone and other items.
Patricia McGuire put out a campus-wide alert about the assault and said the victim was hurt badly enough that she spent the night at the hospital.
The student was released on Friday, but is now with family and was too shaken to talk with the media.
Witnesses describe the group of girls as wearing khakis and dark-colored tops. The thinking is that they may have been in uniform coming from a nearby high school or maybe even middle school.
Trinity's security is working with D.C. police to investigate.
"We've been seeing it on Metro - several horrible stories about gangs of young kids on Metro terrorizing people," said McGuire. "Elsewhere in the city, be aware of your surroundings. If you see a group of young people, unfortunately you have to be aware that maybe you need to protect yourself and we wish it weren't that way.
"We are especially upset that it's girls. We do women's education here at Trinity. We want girls to grow up healthy and strong, so we would like to reach out to the school if we can find out what school to maybe help the school with some programs for those girls."
Officials are reviewing footage, but it is not clear whether the girls were caught on camera. They took off running in the direction of Franklin Street.
If you saw anything or have any information about the girls involved in the attack, police would like to hear from you.