Police thank New Yorkers for arresting suspect in rape of 13-year-old girl

NEW YORK (AP) — Residents of a New York City neighborhood were praised for their role in the arrest of an Ecuadorian man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl. The city’s police chief said the crime “shocked our entire city.”

Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, 25, was arrested outside a deli in Corona, Queens, early Tuesday. He was ordered held without bail following his court appearance Wednesday.

He was charged with raping the teenager last Thursday in Kissena Park in Queens after he allegedly attacked the girl and a 13-year-old boy who was walking with her with a machete.

Police officials said at a press conference that community members held Inga-Landi until police arrived, even though he resisted and tried to escape.

Commissioner Edward A. Caban of the New York Police Department said the rape “shocked our entire city.”

“Our city was united in seeking justice for the victim and her family,” he added.

Joe Kenny, chief of criminal investigations for the New York Police Department, said Inga-Landi confessed, saying he had a drug problem, that he found the long knife he used in the attack and that “this was the first time he had ever done anything like this.”

Kenny said the suspect also identified himself in a video that investigators showed him. The charges against him include rape, sexual abuse, sexual assault causing serious injury, robbery, kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison.

His lawyer had no immediate comment. The Ecuadorian consulate did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

According to the New York Post, prosecutors said in court on Wednesday that Inga-Landi told police in his tape-recorded confession that he recorded parts of the attack and then went out to buy drugs.

Inga-Landi, who had visible scratches on his face, frowned and kept his head down throughout the hearing. A judge ordered him to be remanded in custody without bail until his next appearance on July 1, the newspaper reported.

After the court hearing, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said the arrest was the result of an “incredible citywide manhunt.” She also said the victims provided police with important details, including information about a tattoo, despite the trauma they had experienced.

A resident who helped with his arrest said residents were sure they had the right person in front of them when he took off his shirt and they saw the tattoo.

In a press release, Katz said the attack “on two children in broad daylight in a city park strikes our society at its core.”

Kenny said community members provided “crucial information” as police flooded the area with detectives and shared pictures and a video of the suspect on social media. Among them was a landlord who said Inga-Landi had tried to buy a room from him two weeks earlier.

The public reaction was so strong even before the arrest that police knew Inga-Landi’s identity, had accessed his Facebook page and had a “spot-on” sketch as well as photos and a video, Kenny said.

He said residents of the block where the arrest took place made sure he had nowhere to go after he was discovered, and apparently even held his feet together with a belt.

Kenny said at least 10 people held him down until police arrived. Authorities said he was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital after his arrest.

Angela Sauretti told The Daily Beast that she spotted Inga-Landi, wearing a black hoodie, in the deli and put him in a headlock as he tried to escape.

“He said, ‘Let me explain!’ I said, ‘There’s nothing to explain. You’re a rapist,'” she recalls.

Sauretti said Inga-Landi crawled under a car “like a cat,” but community members surrounded it to prevent his escape.