Police are looking for a man who robbed and sexually assaulted a woman on 46th Place in Northeast D.C. Monday night.

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The assault occurred just a block away from the Benning Road Metro Station at a time many women walk to the metro to get to work.

Resident Crystal Plummer said, "It makes me scared. I walk to the metro every day. I walk home from the metro every day. For someone to come up to me and do that me, that is very scary."

Investigators say the 20-year-old woman was walking along Central Avenue around 6:45 a.m. At 46th Place, a man wearing a ski mask grabbed the victim from behind and pulled her into a dark entryway.

Police say the masked man stole her money, credit card and cell phone. He then raped the young woman who they say was "afraid for her life."

After the assault, police say, the suspect walked towards the metro station while the victim ran two blocks in the other direction to a D.C. fire station where she found help.

"I feel terrible for her, because I didn't hear anything. But if I had I could've yelled or done something," said a resident who lives right above the scene. 

He says he now escorts his fiancee in the mornings.
 
"I get up with her, my fiancee, every morning now and walk her to the bus stop...when she is on the bus and I know she is safe, I come home," he added.

Women in the area, like Tawana Richardson, are on alert.

"It's pretty sad you can't go to work [and] not worry about someone grabbing you...," Richardson said.