Angry friends of a gang-rape victim yesterday blasted useless security guards and cops at their Bay Area high school who failed to prevent the two-hour attack amid a horde of curious onlookers. Some 15 young men were hanging outside the Richmond school the night of homecoming before the attack. Neither police officers nor guards employed for the dance confronted them, said one of the teens. "The assistant principal saw those men, and did nothing about it," she said at a school hearing, reports CNN.
Six young men and teens have been arrested in the attack that left the 15-year-old devout Christian honor student in critical condition. As many as 24 bystanders watched the assault and did nothing to stop it. The case has triggered such anger that the suspects have arrived in court in bullet-proof vests. "This crime was extremely callous and brutal," a deputy district attorney told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We've been getting expressions of outrage from all over the country." (More rape stories.)