4 in custody in connection with sexual assault of NYC churchgoer
NEW YORK — Police have four suspects in custody in connection with the sexual assault of a woman who was attacked at gunpoint after leaving church in Queens, reports CBS New York.
According to reports, Isiah Shorter, 20, turned himself in Friday in connection with the July 11 incident. Three other suspects, Brandon Walker, 20, Julisses Ginel, 19, and a 17-year-old have all been charged with robbery, criminal sex act, criminal use of a firearm and sex abuse, according to police.
Police said the four young men can be seen on surveillance video walking down 150th Street in Jamaica when one of them starts running towards the victim who had just left evening service and was walking to the subway.
The station reports that police said they held her up at gunpoint, stole her debit card and cell phone, then tore her clothes and men sexually assaulted her.
She ran back to her church, Celestial Church of Christ, where her pastor called police.
"She's not getting better," said the victim's husband earlier this week. "She cries all the time."
He says his wife is a social worker who spends her time helping people at work and going to and from the church, but now she's terrified to leave her home.
Shorter and the other suspects were reportedly living in a group home near the crime scene and the station reports that an employee at the group home tipped off police that the suspects in the sex assault were staying there.
Walker and the 17-year-old are also charged with menacing, authorities said, and Ginel and the 17-year-old allegedly robbed three men at gunpoint the night after the assault. They have been charged with first and second-degree robbery in that incident.
