A 14-YEAR-OLD boy has been arrested over the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl in Chicago that was streamed live on Facebook and watched by about 40 people who didn’t report it to authorities, police have said.
Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said more arrests are expected as the investigation continues. Police have said the attack involved five or six males, and Guglielmi said the boy “was one of the offenders in the video”.
Guglielmi said the juvenile suspect faces felony charges of aggravated criminal sexual assault, and manufacturing and dissemination of images of child sexual abuse.
The spokesman has said police were not aware of the mid-March attack until the girl’s mother approached Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and showed him the video.
‘Visibly upset’
Johnson was “visibly upset” after he watched, both by the video’s content and the fact that there were “40 or so live viewers and no one thought to call authorities”, Guglielmi said.
The girl’s mother said her daughter received online threats following the attack. The Chicago Sun Times later reported that the girl’s family had been relocated.
The video marks the second time in recent months that Chicago police have investigated an apparent attack that was broadcast live on Facebook. In January, four people were arrested after video showed them allegedly taunting and beating a man with mental disabilities.
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