A 15-year-old Chicago girl who allegedly suffered through being sexually assaulted on a Facebook Live broadcast is now the target of online threats, adding insult to an indescribably horrific injury.
According to the Associated Press, the mother of the teenager told police that the child has been receiving the threats online ever since the attack, and neighborhood children have been joking about it and harassing the family.
“This is just disturbing, and to think the kids think it is funny,” the mother, 32, told AP.
People have said that “they are going to get” her daughter, and neighborhood children have been ringing the family’s doorbell looking for the girl.
“I can’t stay here,” the mother said. “I have other kids, too. I let them walk to school and now I have to take them.”
It is in this moment that I hate everyone and everything. How does this even begin to become funny? It is still unconscionable to me that 40 people allegedly watched the attack happen and did nothing about it.
The girl vanished on Sunday after an uncle dropped her off at her home. While she was still reported missing, the disgusting Facebook Live video surfaced showing her being assaulted by as many as six men or boys, police said.
The child was found on the street Tuesday morning, a few blocks away from her home, AP notes. The mother said that her daughter is currently staying with a relative and is afraid to come home.
So far, no charges have been announced, but Chicago police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said that the girl knows at least one of her attackers, and investigators are making progress in identifying all those involved.
Andrew Holmes, a community activist, was asked by a family friend to find the video and provide it to the police. Holmes said in the video that the girl was clearly afraid and trying to get away.
“You could see where she was fearful. ... You could see the look of fear and where she is resisting, pushing back,” he said. “It looked like ... she was in total shock.”
The mother told the newswire that her daughter was still traumatized when she was found by police.
“She went to the hospital, but she was so scared, she didn’t want anybody to touch her,” the mother said. The girl reportedly had bruises on her neck, but the mother says that doctors didn’t mention any other significant cuts or bruises.
Read more at the Chicago Tribune.