A man has been arrested after being accused of raping a 13-year-old girl after he was recognized from a wanted poster by Queen’s residents, who then detained him.
Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, 25, faces a string of charges after he was taken into custody by authorities, including rape, robbery, kidnapping, sex abuse, menacing, unlawful imprisonment, among other charges.
The suspect was arrested early on Tuesday after members of the local community recognized the man from an NYPD information call-out.
Angela Sauretti, 23, told The Daily Beast that she was at the 108th Street Grocery in Queens at 1am on Tuesday with a friend when she recognized the man in a black hoodie.
“I pointed him out,” Sauretti told the outlet. “I’m like, ‘Yo, that’s him?’ [The friend] said, ‘Yes, that’s him.’ That’s what confirmed it. And everything just spiraled from there.”
After that, Sauretti said she then grabbed the man in the hoodie. “He tried to run, so I put him in a headlock,” she told The Daily Beast.
“He got something that his mother should have done to him,” she added. “I’ll put it that way.”
Inga-Landi became a suspect to the NYPD after detectives learned that a 13-year-old boy and girl were threatened with a machete-style knife after school last Thursday in Kissena Park, CBS reports.
It is alleged that the young teens had their wrists tied together with shoelaces before the girl was sexually assaulted.
During the apprehension of Inga-Landi on Tuesday, Sauretti further explained that the man then kept on resisting and protested.
“He said, ‘Let me explain!’ I’m like, ‘There’s nothing to explain. You’re a rapist,’” she recalled to the outlet. “He said, ‘I don’t care.’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean you don’t care? You’re a rapist.’ He said, ‘I don’t care.’”
A group of other residents also reportedly got involved in trying to capture the man, such as a 67-year-old woman kicking Inga-Landi and taking off one of her shoes to hit him with it, the outlet reported.
Jeffery Flores also told CBS News he was among those who stopped the man from going anywhere after he was spotted in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
"I come and I just like grabbed him out the store because that situation got me mad like, you know?" Flores told the outlet. "I got two little sisters. I’m about to have a daughter, you know? I couldn’t just, you know, walk away.
"After that, I ain’t gonna lie, everybody just started beating on him," Flores added, saying they used a belt to tie up his legs.
Inga-Landi fought to get away, losing his t-shirt and hoodie in the process, and managed to crawl under a car.
“Like a cat,” Sauretti told The Daily Beast, before NYPD officers arrived at the scene to arrest the man.
Sauretti told the outlet that detectives told those who apprehended the man that they made a citizen’s arrest.
"We found that the community was holding our perp,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
“At the time, the community was trying to hold the perpetrator, waiting for the police, he fought with them, and the community still managed to hold onto him until we got there."
"I especially want to thank New Yorkers. There is no greater force multiplier than the eyes and ears of a fully engaged public," NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban also added.
“This is exactly what we mean when we say public safety is a public responsibility and the past few days proved again that the people of the city could come together and get the job like no one else."
The NYPD offered up a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the suspect, but Sauretti said that the money in no way influenced her to help police find the accused rapist.
“I would have done it even if it wasn’t a reward because, at the end of the day, I feel as if that’s the right thing to do,” she told The Daily Beast.
The suspect was treated at Elmhurst Hospital for minor injuries before being transferred to the 112th Precinct.
After the attack in Kissena Park last week, the man allegedly took the teenager’s phones but left behind a shoelace, a red bandana, and a water bottle, which are all being analyzed by authorities, according to CBS.
The NYPD said that Inga-Landi is an Ecuadorian father of two who crossed the border into Texas around three years ago.
He was arrested at the time for illegal entry into the US but was released while awaiting processing.
"The perpetrator has made statements, after waiving Miranda rights, where he indicated that he has a drug problem, that he found the knife that he used to threaten the two teens, that this was the first time he had ever done anything like this," Kenny said.
Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk. If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673)
