May 13, 2008 6:17 pm US/Central
Girl Sexually Assaulted Near West Side School
Parents At Ryan Elementary Concerned For Safety
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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A 10-year-old girl was sexually assaulted just a block from Ryerson School in the East Garfield Park neighborhood.
CBS
You hope your children are safe when they are walking in their own neighborhood, but one Chicago girl was assaulted just a block from her school on the West Side near Garfield Park.
As police look for clues they are also warning parents to be on alert. Chicago police say they're still talking with the young victim to try to put together a sketch of the suspect and issue a community alert.
Police said the girl was assaulted around 9 a.m. Monday in the 600 block of North Ridgeway Avenue. That is only one street west of the Ryerson Elementary School, at 646 N. Lawndale Ave., where children were assembling for a school day. Classes there begin at 9 a.m.
They are now looking into reports the same little girl may have been attacked once before, about a month ago, also near school property. That news has parents raising concerns about security at Ryerson Elementary.
"We got kids that go to Ryerson, so we're looking at this like, what in the world is going wrong over here?" said parent Elaine Jackson.
Some of the children walk to school alone. Parents say they are now very concerned about that.
"If no one's dropping the kids off, no adult, nobody walking in groups, anything can happen," added Kendall Joseph. "But it makes less of a chance for it to occur if there's somebody there to deter it."
"They walk that way from Huron Street, and I'm quite sure they'd probably be walking by themselves," said Myntha Lewis. "But now I'll make sure that I take them to school every day."
"Security was not tight. They wasn't on their job," said neighbor Adrienne Collins. "That's when stuff happens."
"The kids is mine. They're like my kids and to see this happen again to this little girl... I'm frustrated. I'm very frustrated," said Ryerson security guard Vernon Mems.
Mems has been a security guard at Ryerson for 10 years, but he wasn't on duty as usual when the alleged assault occurred Monday morning. He says it's unclear to him why he was suspended Friday with pay.
"I feel I could've done a lot," Mems said. "with the 10 years I've been there...and it's sad.
"He looks out for all the kids and makes sure all the kids are in school," Ryerson parent David Thompson said of Mems.
CBS 2 talked to the principal on the phone, but he wouldn't comment about any recent changes in the school's security staff or policies. There are surveillance cameras at Ryerson and a police camera on the corner.
Parents said the school did not send home a note to alert them of danger in the neighborhood.
Neighbors say there was a heightened security presence around the school Tuesday. Still, news of the assault is unsettling to people who live in the area.
"That's crazy. There's people like that and I got kids and we just moved over to this neighborhood," said neighbor Linda Barfield. "If I would've known that we would have never moved over here."
As police continue to investigate, they're asking anyone with information about the assault to please give them a call.
CBS 2's Joanie Lum and Susan Carlson contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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