Police credit New Yorkers for suspect’s arrest in the rape of a 13-year-old girl
NEW YORK — Residents of a New York City neighborhood are being blamed for the arrest of an Ecuadorian man for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl, a crime that the city’s police commissioner said “has shocked our entire city.”
Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, 25, was awaiting a court appearance after his arrest early Tuesday outside a deli in Corona, Queens.
He was charged with raping the teen last Thursday in Kissena Park in Queens after he allegedly used a knife to attack the girl and a 13-year-old boy who was walking with her.
Police officials told a news conference that community members held Inga-Landi until police arrived even though he fought them.
New York Police Department Commissioner Edward A. Caban said the rape “shocked our entire city.”
“Our city was united in obtaining justice for the victim and her family,” he added.
Joe Kenny, chief of detectives for the New York Police Department, said Inga-Landi admitted to having a drug problem, that he found the knife he used in the attack and that “this was the first time he had ever had done something. similar.”
Kenny said the suspect also identified himself in a video investigators showed him while criminal charges were being prepared, including rape, sexual abuse, theft, menacing, unlawful confinement, kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal possession of a weapon.
No attorney was listed in the lawsuits as representing Inga-Landi. The Ecuadorian consulate did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Kenny said community members, including a landlord who recalled Inga-Landi trying to rent a room from him two weeks ago, provided “crucial information” as police saturated the area with detectives and photos and video of the house spread. suspect on social media.
The community response was so strong even before the arrest that police knew Inga-Landi’s identity, had visited his Facebook page and had a “dead-on” sketch, along with photos and video, Kenny said.
He said local residents living on the block where the arrest took place made sure that as soon as he was spotted he couldn’t go anywhere, apparently even using a strap to keep his feet together.
Kenny said at least 10 people held him in place until police arrived.
Angela Sauretti, 23, told The Daily Beast that she saw Inga-Landi, wearing a black hoodie, in the deli and put him in a headlock as he tried to flee.
“He said, ‘Let me explain!’ I’m like, ‘There’s nothing to explain. You are a rapist,” she recalled.
Sauretti said Inga-Landi crawled under a car “like a cat,” but community members surrounded him to prevent his escape.