Hannah Eason, News Editor
Two arrests have been made in connection with an alleged sexual assault that police and viral tweets say was recorded and posted on Snapchat, according to an alert sent to students Friday.
Mario Perry Johnson, 26, was charged with the unlawful creation of an image of another person and is being held without bond at the Richmond City Justice Center.
Jamel Antonio Dunmore, 22, also was charged with the unlawful creation of an image of another person and is in police custody. The alert sent to students said a photo of Dunmore was not available.
The public safety advisory stated neither of the two men were affiliated with the university. Both reside outside Richmond in Henrico County.
VCU Police are still investigating the incident, and had released Johnson’s name yesterday afternoon.
Interim Chief of Police Mike O’Berry stated in an email release Monday that police believe the assault occurred late Saturday night or early Sunday. The release says detectives don’t know where the assault occurred, but they believe it happened in an apartment or private residence.
Police said the two men were walking from Oregon Hill to the Monroe Park campus, as seen on VCU’s security cameras.
Footage also showed the men walking along West Main Street near Gladding Residence Center, known as GRC.
Police are asking students and community members who were downtown Saturday night and early Sunday morning to contact 804-828-1196 or send a tip via the LiveSafe app.
“Students or community members … may have seen or met them at a party, restaurant or store or may know them personally,” the public safety advisory stated. “Any amount of information you can provide about their identities and whereabouts this weekend will help our investigation.”
The two individuals were asking VCU students about parties downtown, according to reports received by police.
A tweet went viral on Sunday stating a VCU student was filmed on Snapchat while being raped, and that VCU Police couldn’t take action because officers “can’t do anything because they can’t determine the location.”
The fact a girl that goes to VCU was recorded on snap getting raped and the police “cant” do anything because they can’t “determine the location” is sick.
— rah. (@RahasiaAlexus_) August 25, 2019
A tweet — posted by another user — includes a screenshot of a Snapchat message stating a man filmed his friend sexually assaulting a woman, and posted it on his Snapchat account.
— ET🌻 (@TheyLoveET_) August 25, 2019
VCU Police responded on Twitter yesterday that they were investigating the report. Police spokesperson Corey Byers said in an email that VCU Police began investigating the reports Sunday.
VCU Police are actively investigating this report. If you have information about the incident, please call us at (804) 828-1196 or use the LiveSafe app.
— VCU Police (@VCUPD) August 26, 2019
This story was updated Friday at 5:50 p.m. Executive Editor Georgia Geen contributed to this report.
I’m confused… If it was not on campus, what the hell are the Richmond police doing about it? Sitting on it, clearly disturbing.