INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Four Teenaged Suspects In Custody After Gang Rape In Brooklyn Playground Shocks Neighbourhood, One Man Still At Large

By Janice Malcolm
Published on: 18:31 PST, Jan 10, 2016

On Sunday, police reportedly announced apprehended four teenagers that are believed to have been a part of the gang rape of an 18-year-old girl in a Brooklyn park earlier last week. The attack took place on Thursday night and involved five males who allegedly pulled a gun on the girl and her father, ordering him to leave then raping the girl before he could return with the police.

The brazenness of the attack shocked the country and left the people of the Brownsville neighborhood in a state of fear and uncertainty. The police worked actively to try and bring justice to the case and now have four of the five suspects in custody, all below the age of 18. Two of the boys, ages 14 and 15 were brought into the station by their mothers while the other two, another 15-year-old and a 17-year-old, were apprehended by the police.

As of early Monday morning no charges had been announced, but The New York Times stated that the charges are pending. This new update to the gang rape case came just a day after the police released a surveillance video from a deli that all five men had visited prior to the sexual attack on the 18-year-old.

The rape occurred at approximately 9:10 p.m. on Thursday when the group of five men approached the father and daughter in the playground, one wielding a gun. After the gun wielding teenagers ordered the girl’s father to leave so they could rape her he immediately went to seek help but it took over twenty minutes for him to locate a patrol car and before he returned with the police the five men had each raped the young girl and escaped.

The New York City Police Department have stated that they are unsure why getting help was so hard for the father since the neighborhood is full of public housing high-rises, multiple stores, and delis that he could have used a phone at. One bodega clerk stated though, that he had actually prevented the father from using the phone to call 911 initially as he thought the man’s story to be unbelievable and simply a ruse to get a free call. The clerk expressed his regret once he learned the truth about the rape. One woman by the name of Alethea Pierce, who had been a resident of the neighborhood for 43 years, expressed her dismay that this could happen in this and any area.

The authorities were also shook by the gang rape and New York Daily News wrote of Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson’s vow to do everything possible to apprehend the rapists.

“We have been working closely with the NYPD to bring the violent sexual predators who committed this horrific gang rape to justice and will not stop until every one of them is held accountable.”

The police took two days to inform the public of the vicious attack and have been receiving a lot of backlash for not notifying the neighborhood of a clear and present danger to their lives. A former New York City police captain chastised the police force because, “You can’t have a crime of this magnitude and this level of savage behavior and not have the residents of that area become aware of what happened.”

The police insist that they followed proper procedure and local leaders had been contacted by the local precinct commander about the attack as soon as Friday. It was also advised that prior to a public notice being released, the department prefers to find and process video or other leads that could help with the case. Releasing a public notice before fulfilling those criteria usually happen if a pattern of criminal behavior and a continuing threat may exist.

The New York City Police Department continues to seek the fifth man involved in the gang rape.

[Photo Courtesy of a katz/Shutterstock]

Share this article: Four Teenaged Suspects In Custody After Gang Rape In Brooklyn Playground Shocks Neighbourhood, One Man Still At Large
More from Inquisitr