No One Called Cops During Gang Rape, But Some Took Pictures

School Officials Say It Was Parents' Job to Prevent Homecoming Gang Rape

Photo: School Official Says It Was Parents' Job to Protect Teen From Homecoming Rape: Gang Rape on School Grounds Lasted for Two Hours, a Dozen Watched
Police in Richmond, Calif., are investigating the brutal gang rape of a 15-year-old girl after a homecoming dance.
(KGO/ABC News)

No One at Gang Rape Reported It to Police

Dara Cashman, who heads Contra County's sex assault unit, told ABC News that she will begin reviewing the evidence Wednesday to determine whether criminal charges would be filed. She noted, however, the investigation is continuing.

Cashman indicated that witnesses who did not come to the girl's aid or call police were unlikely to be charged with a crime unless they aided the assault.

According to news reports, the girl left the high school's homecoming dance alone around 9:30 p.m. Saturday to get a ride home with her dad.

Instead, she met up with a group of people who were drinking on the edge of campus.

"The series of events that occurred over the next 2½ hours got more severe and more vicious to where she was ultimately gang raped and beaten, and her injuries were so severe that she had to be sent to the hospital in a helicopter," Gagan told KGO.

Trujillo described the mood at Richmond High School is "somber." Counselors and members of the school's crisis team have remained at the school as students -- some who are still not sure who the victim is -- wonder if every absent girl was the one who was attacked.

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Trujillo said that parents and students are "understandably scared."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and with the child," he said.

Trujillo said the school district was not notified officially about the incident until the next morning, though some officials had heard about it on the news.

Trijullo said that school officials had recently approved a "very costly" security system, but that it had not yet been installed. Security cameras already installed in the school are not believed to be functional, he said, but there were no cameras pointed at the spot where the rape happened.

KGO reported that police were called only after someone who was not at the scene heard people talking about the attack, which was still going on.

Police officers found the girl semi-conscious, curled up near a lunch table.

A Richmond High School student told KGO that the school was not safe at night.

One student, 16-year-old Jennie Steinberg, told the Associated Press that her mother has let her transfer from the school Tuesday.

"It's not safe there at all," she said. "I'm not going back."

Trujillo said 1,688 students attend Richmond High School, which has a banner outside naming it "most improved."

"This is the first time anything like this has ever happened," he said. "It's an isolated incident, a horrible incident."

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