Jul 3, 2008 6:19 pm US/Central
Police Warn About Recent Armed Sexual Assault
(WCCO)
Minneapolis Police are telling people to be on alert for an armed rapist that forced a woman into an alley in Minneapolis last weekend, then attacked her in broad daylight.
The assault happened just two weeks after another woman in a different city got snatched off the street.
"That's really scary because what if something happened to one of the kids?" said Minneapolis resident Jennie Kneath.
"I'm very concerned," said Minneapolis resident Valerie Van Mieghen.
Families living in Portland Village Apartments have been on edge ever since they got a crime alert about the rape in the alley next to their complex.
"My kids aren't going to be outside by themselves. Even though we have a secured area, they're not going to be outside by themselves with predators like that," said Kneath.
The sexual assault happened along a busy stretch of Portland Avenue and 18th Street Saturday at 2 p.m. -- in the middle of the afternoon.
"She was accosted by a male, and at knife-point, forced into an alley where she was sexually assaulted," said Minneapolis Police Sgt. William Palmer.
"It's surprising that if it happened in this alley, that nobody saw it because there's a lot of people that come in and out of that building that walk down that street," said Van Mieghen.
The Kneath children said they were playing outside when the woman was raped but didn't hear or see anything.
"I'm real surprised. ... Most things don't happen like rape during the day, normally it's when it's dark out," said Kneath
This is the second time this summer a woman's been grabbed off the street.
Two weeks ago: a man forced a pregnant woman into a van in St. Paul.
Police said he and his brothers then raped her before she could escape.
Women here sympathize with the latest victim who is in her 40s.
"I'm really sorry that happened to her," said Kneath
"I feel bad for her because she didn't deserve it, ya know, nobody deserves it," said Van Mieghen
Police said the victim gave them a good description of the man who attacked her.
She said he's black, in his 30s or 40s and speaks with an accent. He was about 6-feet-2 and had a heavy build. She said he also had a small beard on his chin and one of his front teeth was longer than the other.
The two stranger rapes in Minneapolis and St. Paul are not connected.
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