Update: Second Teen Arrested In Facebook Live Sexual Assault

By Stephen Gossett in News on Apr 3, 2017 3:09PM

Getty Images / Photo: Brad Thompson

Update 4:55 p.m.:
A second suspect, a 15-year-old boy, has been arrested in connection with the assault, police announced on Monday afternoon.

The boy was accompanied by his mother as he turned himself in at the 10th District police station, according to chief police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. "He is being questioned before going to juvenile detention," Guglielmi said on Monday.

The 15-year-old faces the same charges as a 14-year-old boy whose arrest was announced over the weekend. Both will be charged as juveniles, according to Guglielmi.

Original:
Police said they anticipate additional arrests after they announced over the weekend that a 14-year-old boy was charged in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl that was broadcast on Facebook Live. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a 15-year-old boy who may have been involved in the attack.

At a news conference on Sunday, Supt. Eddie Johnson had stern words for the people responsible and for those who viewed the attack on social media but did not contact authorities.

“They should be ashamed of themselves," Johnson said of the perpetrators. "They’ve humiliated themselves, humiliated their families, and now they’re going to be held accountable for what they did."

Johnson said that as many as 40 people saw the stream of the attack but didn't reach out to police. “It just disgusts me that people would look at those videos and not pick up the phone and dial 911," Johnson said.

Police announced the arrest of the 14-year-old boy late on Saturday. He is scheduled to appear in bond court on Monday. Charges include aggravated criminal sexual assault, manufacturing child pornography and dissemination of child pornography.

The victim's mother on March 20 showed Johnson stills from the assault and told him that it was streamed on Facebook Live. The girl was discovered two days later by police. She was the victim of a series of taunts and threats, online and in person, following the attack.

"This was a torture, not just a sexual assault," community activist Andrew Holmes said on Sunday.