Apr 5, 2009 9:00 pm US/Central
Community Rallies For Safety
Community comes together to speak out after alleged sexual assault on South Side
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The alleged rape of an 11-year-old girl has residents on the city's South Side afraid for their own children. A community rally is planned for this evening, as CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports.
One by one, neighbors near 83rd and Peoria are telling CBS 2 they're stunned to hear of the reported attack of an 11-year-old, right on their block.
Police say an attacker forced that girl into a garage and sexually assaulted her Friday morning.
Community activists are getting neighbors with flyers on the incident from Chicago police.
Investigators say the attack happened sometime between 7:45 and 8:10 Friday morning.
"It's a young lady and it's happening more often than we know about….And when I heard about this I just said we're not going to allow this to get swept under the rug," said Dawn Valenti of United for a Cause.
"I know how it feels to lose someone and I just think about it everyday…how would it be like if my sister was here," said Briona Harris, the sister of Ryan Harris, who was raped and murdered back in 1998.
Her family is supporting a rally in this latest case to help raise more awareness of this type of crime and to push for a law that would punish convicted sex offenders with life in prison on their first offense.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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