Jacob Heffernan was walking to his Marcy-Holmes apartment early Sunday morning when a man shouted a derogatory term, ran at him and head-butted him.

Heffernan, a biomedical engineering sophomore, said he was walking home with a friend near the intersection of Fourth Street Southeast and 11th Avenue Southeast when he heard someone shout something “very nasty” at him.

When he turned around to see who it was, he saw a man running toward him. The man knocked Heffernan to the ground.

“The next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and saw blood rushing down my face and my friend looking down at me,” he said.

Heffernan called for an ambulance and walked with his friend to his apartment, which was about two blocks away.

When the ambulance arrived, paramedics told Heffernan he needed stitches, so he walked to the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview.

Attempted robbery

An attempted armed robbery took place Sunday afternoon in Marcy-Holmes near the intersection of 13th Avenue Southeast and Eighth Street Southeast, according to a Minneapolis police report.

The victim — who is not affiliated with the University — was scraping her windshield at about 4:45 p.m. Sunday when a man approached her, showed her a gun and asked for her money, according to an email crime alert University Police Chief Greg Hestness sent Monday afternoon.

When the victim’s boyfriend came outside, the suspect fled. The victim did not lose anything or sustain any injuries.

This is the 14th crime alert sent to the University community this semester. The University sends email alerts for all crimes on and around campus that may pose a threat to the University, in accordance with federal law.

Starting today, a link to UMPD’s policy on racial profiling will be included in email crime alerts in response to a request by black students, faculty and staff.