Man arrested for allegedly breaking into dorms and groping women at Pacific Lutheran University

A man was arrested after allegedly breaking into two different dorm rooms and groping women on the campus of Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland, Washington, police said Sunday.

The university told students that Campus Safety had received "two separate calls from two students who reported having been sexually assaulted in South Hall by the same unknown assailant," according to CBS affiliate KIRO-TV.  

The first woman was woken up around 4:15 a.m. local time when she noticed someone in her room watching her and her roommate sleeping, the Pierce County sheriff told CBS News in a statement. According to police, the woman got up to check her closet and the man grabbed her. She began hitting him and screaming at him to leave, police said, and the man fled.

The two roommates then went to get breakfast at around 5:30 a.m., police said, at which point they heard screaming. They saw the same man fleeing the dorm and followed him, the sheriff said. At one point, the two women rounded a corner and the man allegedly hit one of them with a shoe, so she pepper sprayed him, the sheriff's office said. 

The two women managed to get a photo of the suspect, but eventually lost sight of him, police said. 

"With the help from the public we received several tips identifying this suspect thanks to the news coverage of the suspect's photo," the sheriff's office said. "One tip helped us track the man down and Tacoma Police arrested him near 6th and Jackson in the city of Tacoma."

The suspect, who was not identified by police, is facing charges of first degree burglary and assault.

Parkland is located just south of Tacoma, Washington.