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Recent DePaul Graduate's Face And Throat Slashed In Lincoln Park Attack

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A recent graduate of DePaul University was in critical condition Thursday morning, after she was found with her face and neck slashed near campus in Lincoln Park.

The knife-wielding suspect is at large, police say.  Her attacker, police believe, wanted to sexaully assault her, but she fought back.

Police said officers responding to a well-being check around 3:45 a.m. found the 22-year-old woman on the ground near Halsted and Fullerton, near the university's music building, bleeding from the neck. She had been slashed with a knife, beaten and her wallet stolen.

DePaul University spokeswoman Carol Hughes confirmed the victim recently graduated from DePaul.

The woman was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition, with lacerations to her face and neck.

Chicago Police Department spokesman Tom Ahern said detectives are reviewing surveillance video that shows a car which might have been involved in the attack. The video shows the vehicle going the wrong way down a one-way street before turning onto Halsted, and making a u-turn. Ahern said investigators do not have video of the attack itself.

In the five-block radius around where the attack occurred, there have been a total of 59 robberies and 16 criminal sexual assaults reported to police since the start of the 2019.

DePaul issued a campus safety alert about the attack, which happened across the street from the university's music buildings.

The school asked anyone with information on the attack to contact campus police at 773-325-7777 or to call Chicago police at 911.

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