Police say a 15-year-old girl was held at gunpoint, forced into the back of a van and then raped on Oct. 11, 2011, near Calumet Perspectives Charter School on the South Side. (Credit: CBS)
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CHICAGO (CBS) – A teenage girl walking to school says she was held at gunpoint, thrown into a van and raped.
It happened last week near 81st and May streets in the Gresham neighborhood.
On Tuesday, friends and family were expressing concern surrounding the vehicle that some said had been parked in the area for days.
CBS 2′s Pamela Jones reports that a postal worker spotted the van parked near the school after the attack.
She said she thinks she’s seen the van police say was hanging around Calumet Perspectives Charter School’s campus last week.
“I seen it and I was wondering, like, why don’t nobody saying anything about it. And then other people on the block is like, ‘Oh, that vehicle was there since 1:30 that morning,’” said the postal worker, who asked to remain anonymous.
Police said the van was parked near the school on Oct. 11 and that someone with a gun pulled a 15-year-old girl inside the van and raped her.
“The only thing I seen was this big black van … And all the part that you could view into the back of it was all tinted,” the postal worker said. “It was a light skinned black man, early 30′s; like 33 or 34.”
She said she believes she saw the van at 82nd and Carpenter streets on Thursday and others said they believe the van was parked just outside the school for days.
“For someone to sit out here seven days and watch young ladies walk around here and we didn’t notice; I say we because I didn’t either, notice as a community, that, you know, something is wrong,” said concerned parent Lynette Lulich.
Lulich is the mother of Calumet Perspectives 7th grader Max Lulich. They gathered with others who lit candles at a vigil Tuesday night.
A group called “Action Now” organized the event to honor the victim and push for an arrest in the case. Even the youngest among them said they feel the danger lurking on their streets.
“I’ve known of people being raped and all that, but when it happened at my school, I was pretty much shocked,” Max Lulich said.
Police said they are still interviewing witnesses, but have made no arrests.
