Charges: Bystanders assisted in stopping sexual assault, identifying suspect

A man has been charged in connection with a sexual assault that took place Saturday in Minneapolis.

Marquis Jeffery McLoyd Jr., 27, faces two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

According to a criminal complaint, Minneapolis officers were called to an apartment building on Bryant Avenue South Saturday evening on a report of a sexual assault. There, they found a woman wearing disheveled clothes and crying.

The woman told police that she had been sitting outside the building waiting for her boyfriend when a stranger, later identified as McLoyd, pushed her onto the ground, causing her to hit her head. She began screaming.

McLoyd began sexually assaulting the woman, but bystanders who heard the scream ran over and he ran off. He was found two blocks away and bystanders identified him as the assailant.