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College Street West, from the university, through Little Italy and all the way to Roncesvalles, features bustling commercial strips, tall office towers and tightly packed restaurants. But for a few blocks between Dufferin and Lansdowne, College becomes almost suburban. Single-family homes coexist with schools, and pedestrian traffic, even on warm days, seems to almost disappear.

It was along that stretch that police say a terrifying crime took place Sunday night. At about 11 p.m., a 27-year-old woman was walking on the sidewalk near College Street and Brock Avenue when a man approached her from behind. He was short, maybe 5-foot-7, clean-shaven and had olive-coloured skin.

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When the man reached the woman, he grabbed her and held a metal hacksaw to her neck. He tried to drag her away. He told her, according to Canada.com: “You are coming with me. You are going to die.”

Even in the middle of the day, College at Brock is not a busy intersection. A massage parlour, the legitimate, medical kind, is on one corner, family homes on two and an elementary school, St. Helen’s Catholic, on the fourth. There’s nothing open at night within shouting distance. The nearest restaurant, a Mexican joint with limited hours, is at least a half block away.