11-Year-Old Girl Raped On Way To School

Philadelphia police have released a composite sketch of a man who they say raped an 11-year-old girl while on her way to school. The victim's distraught parents spoke out to Fox 29.

It happened around 8:20 a.m. Monday in the 2000 block of E. Westmoreland Street in the city's Kensington section.

The girl had just dropped off her younger sister at daycare when she was approached by the suspect at Kensington Avenue and F Street, said police.

Capt. John Darby, of the Special Victims Unit, said the man told her he had a gun and threatened her if she screamed. Police said he made her walk six blocks before attacking her in an alley. Investigators said the girl was repeatedly raped for nearly an hour.

The man fled the scene after the attack. The girl was able to flag down a passerby who in turn called 911. She was taken to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children where she underwent surgery.

"She made her way out of that alley and was found crying on the highway, obviously upset, and bleeding," said Capt. Darby.

Police are out in full force to find the suspect. Investigators are analyzing surveillance video from a grocery store that captured the suspect. He also left behind a pair of sunglasses at the scene that are being tested for DNA.

"Anyone who would attack an 11-year-old kid in this vicious manner is someone who we cannot afford to have on the streets of our city for any length of time, at all. So anything at all we can do," says Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey.

The girl's inconsolable parents pray her attacker is caught soon.

“He didn't have to do that to my baby,” sobbed the girl’s mother.

"This guy, you hurt my baby, man. You hurt my baby,” said her father. “Let me tell you, you better pray that the police catch you before I do."

The suspect is described as a 5'8" male in his 20s with a thin build. He has black hair, possibly with a goatee. The man was last seen wearing a white t-shirt with black shorts and silver-rimmed sunglasses. The victim told police that the suspect kept calling himself 'Alex' and has significant cuts to his throat.

The Fraternal Order of Police is set to announce Tuesday afternoon a reward of $10,000 for information leading to the man's arrest.

Anyone with information is urged to call police at 215-686-TIPS.