A 15-year-old Chicago girl was apparently sexually assaulted by five or six men or boys on Facebook Live, and none of the roughly 40 people who watched the video reported the attack to police, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Chicago police are searching for five or six men or boys suspected of the crime, NBC Chicago reported. Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that the girl, who went missing on Sunday, was found by detectives and reunited with her family. He added that about 40 people viewed the attack on Facebook while it was happening, and did not report it to police.
Police only learned of the attack when the girl’s mother approached Superintendent Eddie Johnson on Monday afternoon, Guglielmi added. The mother showed Johnson screenshots of her daughter’s alleged assault.
The department ordered Facebook to take down the video, which it did.
On Tuesday, Guglielmi announced on Twitter that the girl had been found. “LOCATED: Deahvion Austin was found by 10th district officers. She is now at the Area with her mother & detectives are conducting interviews.”
LOCATED: Deahvion Austin was found by 10th district officers. She is now at the Area with her mother & detectives are conducting interviews. https://t.co/1UEAiL0JYn
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) March 21, 2017
“What’s even more disturbing, more than the fact that they did this, there were so many people that saw this and they didn’t pick up the phone and dial 911,” Johnson told Chicago news station WGN. “That’s just not right and (we’re) working on it and try to bring it to a successful resolution.”
This is the second time in two months that the department has investigated an apparent attack that was live-streamed on Facebook, the AP reported. In January, four people were arrested after cell phone footage showed them allegedly taunting and beating a mentally disabled man.
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