An Ecuadorian migrant accused of tying up and raping a 13-year-old girl at a New York City park was arrested Tuesday after police said vigilant citizens tackled and held the suspect until officers arrived.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, 25, was taken into custody early Tuesday in Queens following the suspect’s run-in with a group of angry residents near the intersection of 108th Street and Waldron Street.
Chief Kenny credited cooperation from the victims, a precise sketch of the suspect, and later, surveillance images of Mr. Inga-Landi for making locals aware of whom police were trying to track down.
“Everybody knew who we were looking for. We had tips coming in actually naming the perpetrator, so they knew who he was,” Chief Kenny said. “When they saw him out on the street, they tried to detain him. They called 911, he began to fight back … and he suffered some minor injuries while the community was holding him.”
The chief said he heard about community members tying a belt around Mr. Inga-Landi’s legs to prevent him from running off, but he couldn’t confirm that information at the press conference.
Chief Kenny said the suspect told police during the booking interview that he had a drug problem and that he’d just recently found the knife tied to last week’s broad daylight attack.
He used the “machete-style knife,” according to police, to force the girl and a boy to go to a wooded section of Kissena Park.
Authorities said the suspect tied up the victims’ hands with shoelaces and then raped the girl. He stole the victims’ phones and told them to wait for 20 minutes while he ran away, according to police.
The two juveniles reported the attack once they got back to school.
Chief Kenny said Mr. Inga-Landi’s only prior arrest came in June 2021 when he illegally crossed the U.S. southern border near Eagle Pass, Texas.
The chief said Mr. Inga-Landi was processed and freed into the U.S. to await a court date on whether he can stay here, a process derided by border-control advocates as “catch and release” and as a Biden administration bid for a de facto open border.
Charges against the suspect in this case haven’t been filed, but Chief Kenny said they will likely include rape, robbery, kidnapping and other charges.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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