Possible Gang Link Probed in North Park Rape

A 34-year-old Vietnamese woman was attacked Tuesday after three Asian men forced their way into her North Park apartment, one sexually assaulting her while another read to her three children in a back room, San Diego police said.

The attack took place about 10:30 a.m. when the three men, dressed in black and armed with two handguns, forced their way into the woman’s apartment in the 2700 block of Meade Avenue, Lt. Jerry Moody said.

The attackers held the woman and her children at gunpoint while they ransacked the apartment and then sexually assaulted her.

As the mother was being assaulted by one man, another read to her children in a back room, Sgt. Brian Blagg said. Police said they believe the third man did not attack the woman.

The woman’s assailants then bound her with tape and fled, Moody said. Police were called to the scene, and an interpreter was needed to communicate with the woman and her children.

The three men escaped in a late-model red vehicle, police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

Blagg said it is probable that the three attackers are Vietnamese, since they spoke to the woman in Vietnamese.

The woman was taken to Sharp-Cabrillo Hospital, where she was treated but not admitted, Moody said. A small amount of jewelry was taken in the robbery.

The attack is being jointly investigated by robbery and gang units, and it has not been confirmed whether the incident is gang-related, Blagg said. No arrests have been made.