Richmond High School Gang Rape: Police Arrest 7th Suspect

After releasing one of the six young men suspected of the gang rape of a 15-year-old Richmond High School student outside her homecoming dance, Richmond Police announced Tuesday that a seventh arrest had been made. Richmond Police spokesman Lt. Mark Gagan stated that a 21-year-old male had been arrested and charged with suspicion of rape, rape in concert with force and other charges that could land the man in prison for life. Although his name was not released, Gagan said that the investigation into the gang rape of the 15-year-old in the courtyard outside Richmond High School on October 24 was ongoing and that the Richmond Police were actively pursuing more suspects. There is still a lot more work that has to be done."

The as yet unnamed alleged assailant is the sixth attacker of the 15-year-old to face charges of rape, rape in concert, and special circumstances charges. Prosecutors have filed charges against 19-year-old Manuel Ortega, 18-year-old Jose Carlos Montano, and Marcelles James Peter, 17, Ari Abdallah Morales, 16, and Cody Ray Smith, 15.

Police released 21-year-old Salvador Rodriguez after prosecutors determined they had insufficient evidence with which to charge him with a crime.

The 15-year-old Richmond High School student was on her way to meet her father after leaving a homecoming dance when she stopped off to hang out with some young men in a dark courtyard. Police reported that she imbibed a considerable amount of alcohol and was soon attacked by at least ten young men. The teen was gang raped, beaten, and robbed over a period of two to two-and-a-half hours. Another 10-15 bystanders stood around cheering, taking pictures, laughing, and going in and out of the still ongoing homecoming dance to inform others of what was transpiring outside the school. Some of the informed came out to observe and may have participated in the gang rape as well.

The 15-year-old victim's father said he attempted to call her on her cell phone several times but got no answer.

A former Richmond High School student called 911 after the incident when they overheard a conversation between young males bragging about the gang rape.

The case has sparked outrage across the country and has become a popular news magazine and talk show topic. As unconscionable as the crime seems to be to many, it is the over two hours of wanton disregard for and cruel violence done to another human being that many are finding so difficult to understand. Social psychologists label this event the "bystander effect" or the Kitty Genovese syndrome, where nothing is done during a crime to either help the victim or to inform authorities.

But there is also the phenomenon known as the tipping point, the seeming breakpoint where some social phenomenon catches society's attention and, for whatever reason, becomes more prevalent. Even with all the publicity the case has garnered, there does not seem to have been the usual copycatting of the crime, such as all the Columbine-like crimes that were committed in the wake of school shootings in Littleton, Colorado, in 1999. Perhaps the gang rape of a 15-year-old for more than two hours is something nearly everyone finds so socially abhorrent that even the suggestion of such a heinous activity (such as the appearance of the story on television) has acted as a dampening effect as opposed to the activity suddenly becoming more likely to occur.

The absence of a tipping point and the predominant prevalence of outrage that something like the gang rape of a 15-year-old outside a high school could happen in a civilized society are good indicators that the overall social fabric of the world isn't being rent asunder, but that there are some gross imperfections in that fabric. Bringing the rapists to justice is a step in repairing the imperfection in Richmond, California.

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Source:

Associated Press