Facebook

More Arrests Expected in Sexual Assault of Chicago Teen Streamed on Facebook

14-year-old boy arrested and charged in the sexual assault of the girl on Facebook Live

More arrests are expected in what Chicago's police chief called the "absolutely horrific" sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl that was streamed last month on Facebook Live.

A 14-year-old boy was arrested and charged this weekend in the assault, Supt. Eddie Johnson said. A second juvenile is expected to be arrested soon, and detectives are working to identify "several other offenders."

Police have said about 40 people viewed the attack on Facebook while it was happening, but none of them reported it to police.

"The young men responsible, they should be ashamed of themselves," Johnson said. "They humiliated themselves, humiliated their families, and now they're going to be held accountable for what they did."

Police said social media search warrants, obtained by working with Facebook, led detectives to identify two offenders and secure arrest warrants.

A day after the March 19 attack, the victim's mother received still shots of her daughter being sexually assaulted, police said.

The woman then reported her daughter missing, and on March 21 she approached Johnson as he was leaving a police station in the Lawndale neighborhood.

"Not only was she upset, I was visibly upset from what I saw," Johnson said.

Since the assault, the victim has been bullied online, police said.

She has since been moved from her home to a "safe place," community activist Andrew Holmes said. She and her mother are receiving counseling.

"As a father of young women myself, I am so inspired by her strength," Johnson said, "and while I know the emotional wounds caused by this savagery will take long to heal, I'm hopeful that her story can be an inspiration to so many other young women who are victimized by bullying and sexual assault,"

The investigation is ongoing, Johnson said.

Contact Us