Man In Custody In Connection With Series Of Rapes
DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit police say they have a person of interest in custody in connection with several rapes in the city.
Crime scene investigators were collection evidence, Wednesday, at a home on Lansdowne Street near Kelly and Whittier on the city's east side.
Witnesses say a man was arrested in that neighborhood earlier in the day. WWJ's Stephanie Davis spoke with Alonso Gray, who shovels snow for many residents on that street.
Gray says he tried to shovel the snow at that home.
"I knocked on the door. I asked him to shovel the snow -- I'd charge him $10 to shovel the snow. He told me that was too much. He was down low in the door, kind of peeking out," Gray said.
"When I left off the porch, I had my wife with me and my son... I said to her, when I walked down the stairs... 'He kind of looked like the rapist. The picture of the rapist'," he said.
Another neighbor, Lisa Jones, agrees that the man who lives in that home resembles the reported rapist.
"We see him all the time, but we never thought that I would actually be ... I kept [saying] that's him! That's him. But, you know, you don't want to accuse nobody if it ain't really happened. But I'm quite sure that's the same person," Jones said.
These new developments come after several women were sexually assaulted -- with the latest happening near East Outer Drive and Harper last Monday.
At least seven woman were attacked since January 1. That includes one attempted rape in which the woman was able to break free by fighting back.
Police have said the suspect attacked the women in the late evening and early morning while they're walking alone or waiting at bus stops.
The Reverend Mallik Shabazz organized several community demonstrations to keep the case in the spotlight. "This is a result -- this and all of these other cases -- of the people, the police and the politicians coming together," Shabazz said Wednesday.
Shabazz says it's important for Detroiters to become involved in block clubs and work together as neighbors.
Stay with WWJ for the latest on this story.
