Woman sexually assaulted in Humboldt Park: police alert

A woman was sexually assaulted early Monday in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side, police said in a community alert.

The 32-year-old was walking to buy cigarettes at 2:10 a.m. and noticed a man follow her for a brief period, Chicago police said.

The woman bought the cigarettes and started walking back when she was suddenly grabbed from behind by the same man, police said. He dragged her into the rear of an abandoned building in the 1100 block of North Keystone Avenue.

The man punched her on the side of the head and then sexually assaulted her, police said. He fled afterward, and the woman found help at a friend’s house. She was later treated at a hospital.

Police said the suspect was a black man, in his late teens or early twenties, with black hair and medium skin tone. He stood between 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-10, and had no facial hair or tattoos. He wore a black skull cap, an orange sweater, blue jeans and white Nike Air Force Ones.

Anyone with information was asked to call detectives at (312) 744-8261.