A Northwestern student was attacked by three men early Friday in the same area where a police officer spotted two men who matched the description of the suspects in an on-campus purse snatching last weekend, according to a report filed at the Evanston Police Department.

The report gave the following account of the incident:

The victim said he was searching near Sherman Avenue and Noyes Street for a friend’s apartment around 1 a.m. Friday when three men came up behind him, two of them wearing ski masks.

One assailant tapped the victim on the shoulder, punched him in the face and pushed him to the ground when he turned around, demanding money.

The victim told the assailants he had no money, and after the men searched the victim’s pockets they fled.

The victim suffered a bruise to his right cheek, the report stated.

Evanston and University Police officers searched the area with no results and issued a crime alert Friday morning.

Two of the three men involved in the attack matched descriptions of the ones the officer had just seen, the report also stated.

An EPD officer was traveling east on Noyes near Maple Avenue just before the reported incident when she saw the two men wearing blue jeans, one wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and the other wearing a bomber jacket, according to the report.

When the officer pulled up closer to the individuals, the report stated, they ran south on Noyes, over a fence and into an empty parking lot. The officer put out an alert to other officers and began to search the area.

While searching the officer was flagged down by two NU students at Sherman and Gaffield Street who informed her of the attack at Sherman and Noyes, the report stated.

An NU student and Daily reporter had her purse snatched Sept. 27 in the Sorority Quads, and 20 minutes earlier that day another student almost had her purse taken. The descriptions both victims lodged with the police appeared to match the men the officer spotted.