Police address concerns about rape on Beacon Hill

About 120 Beacon Hill residents met with police last night to address concerns about the rape of a woman last weekend in her apartment on Joy Street, police and neighbors said.

For about two hours, residents raised questions about crime prevention in the neighborhood, and police offered tips on how they could protect themselves, according to those who attended the meeting, which was closed to reporters.

Police also handed out plastic whistles and offered to help residents organize a crime-watch group.

''We're doing absolutely everything we can to capture this suspect, and I believe we will. . . . We urged people to take precautions; we can't be everywhere," said Deputy Superintendent Margot Hill of the Boston Police Department's Family Justice Division, which includes the Sexual Assault Unit.

On Sunday night, a man forced his way into a Joy Street apartment building, where he tied up and robbed two women, both in their mid-20s, and raped one of them at gunpoint, police said.

Police describe the man as a 6-foot-tall non-Hispanic black man, of about 20 years old and who has slim build.

One of the women had entered the building about 10:15 p.m. when the man pushed her inside and forced her up at least four flights of stairs to her apartment, police said. The man bound and gagged the woman, and as he raped her, the woman's roommate came home. He then tied up the roommate and robbed the apartment before fleeing, police said.

Last night, police urged women not to walk alone on the Hill and to avoid anyone who appear suspicious. Residents are urged to draw attention by screaming ''fire."

Afterward, residents reported mixed feelings about the meeting. ''I learned a lot," said Nadia Heredia, a junior at Emerson College.

Patti Weston, 50, said she plans to change her habits: ''I'm no longer gong to run around this neighborhood like I'm in the country."

Donovan Slack of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.