4 teens in custody, 1 sought in Brooklyn playground gang rape

ByKemberly Richardson and CeFaan Kim WABC logo
Monday, January 11, 2016
4 in custody in connection with Brownsville gang rape
CeFaan Kim has the latest from Brownsville.

BROOKLYN, New York -- Police say four teens, ranging from 14 to 18 years old, are in custody in connection with the gang rape of of an 18-year-old woman at a playground in Brooklyn. One suspect still remains on the loose.

Surveillance video shows the gang consisting of five men entering a nearby bodega before Thursday night's attack.

Police say the 18-year-old woman was walking with her father near Osborn Playground in Brownsville, and that's when five men walked up, pointed a gun, and told the man to leave. The father tells Eyewitness News that he had no choice but to leave his daughter in the park surrounded by the men. What allegedly happened next is unsettling, but some say had it unfolded in different parts of the city, it would have been handled differently.

"The one put a gun in my face telling me to run, and all of them had their way with her," said the teen's father, who is is not being identified.

The father tells Eyewitness News he was with his daughter near the handball court having a drink when the men approached. When one man pulled out a gun and told him to run, he felt he had no choice. He says he felt that if he stood there and fought, he would have died.

The man, who did not have a cellphone, ran to a nearby bodega begging for help, but they wouldn't call police. The victim tells Eyewitness News that she screamed for help and became scared when her dad left her.

"I didn't know what to do. I was in a panic mode," she said.

The father then ran and told police, but by the time officers arrived on the scene 15 minutes later, the suspects were gone.

The woman was treated at Kings County Hospital and released.

Borough Eric Adams sharply criticized police for what he says was an "unacceptable" delay in getting vital information to the Brooklyn community.

"A rape takes place on the Upper East Side, it would not take two days for that information to come out, and the people to be protected, and the people to be aware," Adams said.

Sources tell Eyewitness News in the hours and days following the alleged rape, detectives interviewed the victim at length and canvassed the neighborhood looking for possible suspects. They say when they found the surveillance video, they immediately released it.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was "disgusted and deeply saddened by the horrific attack."

Charges are pending against the 14-year-old, 17-year-old and two 15-year-olds suspects.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.