Fifth suspect in Brooklyn park gang rape is taken into custody

A 17-year-old suspect in the gang rape of an 18-year-old woman who was walking in a Brooklyn park with her father was taken into custody Tuesday.

The suspect was not identified in reports, but ABC7NY.com reported that he was being questioned by police. Four other teenagers were charged Tuesday with rape, forcible compulsion, criminal sex act and sex abuse in the alleged attack. Authorities anticipate that the boys will plead not guilty because they claim the sex was consensual.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton told the New York Post that at this phase in the investigation “we have no doubt that she was raped.”

The incident unfolded at about 9 p.m. Thursday after the woman and her 39-year-old father were near a handball court at a playground residents say usually is quiet and empty at night.

The woman reportedly told investigators that a group of teenagers approached the pair in the park and one of them pulled out a handgun and ordered the father to leave. The father, who didn't have a cellphone, said that he wandered around for several minutes in a futile attempt to get help before he flagged down two police officers.

Police said no 911 calls were made and that once alerted by the victim's father, the officers "immediately responded" and had the battered victim hospitalized.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.