Johns Hopkins University student testifies about fighting off man who attacked her on campus

The international student at Johns Hopkins University said she was taking an evening stroll during fall break last year when a stranger approached.

He patted her on the shoulder, asked her for directions on how to leave the Homewood campus in North Baltimore and thanked her for her help, she testified Thursday. Then he ran off.

Later that night, when the student was walking around Decker Quad, listening to music and scrolling through TikTok, she said someone grabbed her from behind. He threw her to the ground and tried to remove her clothes, she testified.

Her assailant, she said, was the same man who had asked her for directions earlier.

“I was fighting back,” she testified, “kicking and grabbing his hair.”

When the man heard footsteps and voices, he took off. The student said she went to the nearest emergency blue light phone and called for help.

The man she has identified as her attacker, Raymond Lunn, is standing trial this week before Baltimore Circuit Judge Jeffrey Geller on charges of attempted rape, assault and sex offenses. The Banner does not name the survivors of sexual assault without their permission.

“Students should be able to walk across their campus without fear,” Assistant State’s Attorney Keera Gilbert said in her opening statement. “It should not matter whether it’s daytime or nighttime.”

Gilbert said she would call two witnesses who found the student the night of Oct. 18, 2025, and play surveillance video from before and after the attack. She acknowledged that there’s no DNA evidence tying Lunn to the crime.

But Assistant Public Defender Janet Andersen, one of Lunn’s attorneys, challenged the identification of her client, noting that the student was attacked from behind.

“He’s not the attacker,” Andersen said in her opening statement. “There’s nothing connecting her to him or the place.”

These types of cases are rare.

Hopkins reported five instances of what it classified as fondling in 2024 on its Homewood campus and five cases of rape. People who commit sexual violence usually know their victims, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lunn, 32, of Woodbourne Heights, rejected a plea offer that called for him to serve 18 years in prison. He has a previous conviction from 2019 in Baltimore County for attempted rape.

The student, 20, testified that she declined to undergo a sexual assault exam that night, but sought one several days later.

“At the time, I was very overwhelmed,” she said. “I was just feeling very lucky it didn’t proceed any further.”

She stood firm about the identity of her assailant.

“Can you identify the person who attacked you?” Gilbert asked.

“Yes,” the student replied, before she pointed out Lunn. “I just remember his eyes and his facial features.”