I think that the answer to this one lies somewhere in the middle. On its very surface it seems relatively easy to dismiss. A mayor/police officer/other public figure in a position of authority telling people to avoid circumstances in which they are more likely than otherwise to be victims of crime. So what? But this ignores the narrative of how sexual assault cases are largely portrayed.
A male gets beaten and mugged walking home at 6:30 PM. What are the chances that the main talking points surrounding the issue are in relation to the danger that they put themselves in? Almost none. In fact, you'd barely hear a peep if they were walking home in a poor neighbourhood, plastered at 3 AM. Because in these circumstances it is taken as self evident that there are dangers of being alone and vulnerable, but it is assumed that these people either were placed in these circumstances out of necessity, or they weighed up the various dangers and decided to place themselves in these situations anyway. It barely even registers in the conversation. This is troublesome because it implies that there is some sort of greater burden on women to prevent their own assaults, which can come across as victim blaming. It becomes especially apparent when you understand the actual victim blaming that has gone on surrounding instances of sexual assault and rape. It's very easy to see how a 'take precautions' can translate to victim blaming, especially if you are clumsy or outright clueless with the language you use (invitation FFS).
Just report the facts of what happened and let the dangerous circumstances stand as self-evident like you would in any other instance. And why the need to even mention gender? It's irrelevant. I honestly wouldn't even care if there is a small mention of being aware of the circumstances you place yourself in, as long as it is consistent with how other assaults are presented and the language isn't callous, as it was in this instance. Sure, some people would still get angry about it, but people get angry about a lot of things that they probably shouldn't.