Police have announced the arrests of
two men and two teens who were allegedly involved in the gang rape of
a lesbian in the San Francisco Bay area, reports the San Francisco
Chronicle.
The four are accused of taunting a
twenty-eight year old lesbian, repeatedly raping her and leaving her
naked outside an abandoned apartment building in Richmond,
California.
The woman was attacked on December 13 as she got out
of her car, which bore a rainbow sicker, a symbol of gay pride. The
four taunted the woman about being a lesbian, then one struck her
with a blunt object as she crossed the street, instructed her to
remove her clothing and raped her while the other men held her down.
The men moved the victim to a
burned-out building, where they took turns raping her. Afterwards,
the assailants robed her of her wallet and car. The abandoned car
was found by police two days later.
A Saturday December 27 Richmond vigil
for the woman might have helped solve the crime. Police report that
tips from local residents led to the arrested.
On Wednesday, three of the four were
taken into custody. Humberto Hernandez Salvador, 31, was arrested at
his Richmond home, Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan said. The names of
the 15-year-old and 16-year-old teens are being withheld, but police
said they were being held at a juvenile detention center.
The fourth man, Josue Gonzales, 21,
turned himself in on Thursday.
“We feel that while these four
suspects were at large, a large cross-section of our population felt
unsafe,” Gagan told The Associated Press. “Now that the
fourth one is behind bars, we can all breathe a sigh of relief.”
All four are being held on gang rape,
kidnapping and carjacking charges. Police would not elaborate on the
details of the arrests, but have characterized the case as a hate
crime.
Hate crimes based on sexual orientation
continue to increase nationwide, making up about 16% of total hate crimes,
according to FBI statistics.