NC State issues campus safety alert after rape reported at Bragaw Hall

NC State warned students at 9:03 p.m. Monday that a rape had been reported at Bragaw Hall, one of the university’s busiest West Campus residence halls and home to 761 residents just steps from Fountain Dining Hall. The alert put a major student living area in Raleigh under a campus-wide safety notice as University Police investigated.

According to the university’s WolfAlert, police received the report on April 20, 2026, after the alleged assault occurred at Bragaw Hall on April 19. The notice said the suspect has been positively identified but has not been apprehended. It described the suspect as a white male, about 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, with short brown hair, a white shirt and black athletic shorts, and said he was approximately 17 years old.

The report matters well beyond one building. Bragaw Hall is a suite-style residence hall on West Campus, a dense part of NC State where students live, study and move between dining, classes and evening activities. In that setting, a WolfAlert can change how quickly students check their phones, whether they walk alone after dark and how closely families follow the university’s emergency messages.

NC State said WolfAlerts are part of its broader emergency communication system and can be sent by email, text message, desktop notification, campus billboards, audible alert, website banner and social media. The notice was issued under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, the federal law that requires colleges receiving federal student aid to disclose campus crime statistics and safety information.

The Bragaw Hall report also follows an earlier rape alert tied to the same residence hall in January 2023, when police said the suspect had not been positively identified and no one was in custody. That history gives the latest warning added weight for students, parents and staff trying to gauge safety in one of Raleigh’s largest public university communities.