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Police to Review Summer Cases After Latest Sexual Attack in Logan Square

By Darryl Holliday | October 10, 2014 8:51am | Updated on October 13, 2014 9:24am
 A teen was sexually abused Thursday night at the Logan Square Blue Line terminal, officials said.
Blue Line Sexual Abuse
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LOGAN SQUARE — A 16-year-old girl was sexually abused Thursday night at the Logan Square Blue Line station, according to police. And after a string of sexual attacks in Logan Square over the summer, officers are looking into whether the same man is responsible.

The latest attack occurred around 6:47 p.m. in the 2600 block of North Milwaukee Avenue when a 16-year-old girl was approached by an adult who inappropriately grabbed her and rubbed against her as he exited the train, police said.

The man got off the northbound train as the doors opened but not before the victim shouted and nearby witnesses sprang into action, according to Shakespeare Police District Capt. Mark Buslik. The witnesses chased the suspect up the southern stairwell in an attempt to hold him until police arrived, but the man was able to escape.

After at least five similar attacks in Logan Square in recent months, Buslik said a possible connection wasn't lost on him. Detectives are on the case and will compare a description of Thursday's attacker to see if there's any match to witness descriptions from May through September, he said.

In late May, a victim shared her story online after after fighting off a molester while walking to the Blue Line at 9:30 a.m. That attack was followed by at least four others in June, all in Logan Square and Humboldt Park.

Police will check the Logan Square Blue Line station's security footage for a more exact description of the man from the most recent attack, but as of Friday afternoon detectives only had a vague description to go on.

Witnesses described him as a Hispanic man, about 5-foot-5 and between 40 and 50 years old.

At the Blue Line station Friday morning, Wicker Park resident Kathryn Wilson, 22, said the news was troubling, especially because she travels the Logan Square Blue Line each day.

Sexual harassment "is something that seems to happen a lot unfortunately," she said. "It's nerve-wracking being a woman and traveling alone sometimes — there's always harassment on the train."

The trouble is, in part, due to a lack of education and conversation on how women are approached in public, she added — including inappropriate gestures on the street.

"I don't think a lot of men realize that it's such a threatening thing," she said, noting that many of her friends regularly experience catcalls and shouts on the street and CTA — gestures that are generally normalized.

"I'm almost numb to it — which is disgusting," she added.

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