By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — The unsolved sexual assault on a 9-year-old girl inside a Chinatown library last month has put local parents on high alert.
In response, a coalition of local advocates and community organizations have scheduled a forum this weekend to discuss how to keep children safe.
The event will take place on Sunday, at the Educational Alliance's Mazer Theater, just steps from the Seward Park Library where the May 6 attack occurred.
A male suspect approached the young victim in the library’s children’s section, groping her and forcing the girl to touch him after she left her mother’s side for only a moment, according to police.
There were no surveillance cameras to capture the incident, and the library’s lone security guard was not in the area at the time.
Police described the suspect as a male in his mid-40s, standing 5-foot-9 to 6 feet tall, with a medium build and short salt-and-pepper-colored hair. A sketch of the suspect has been widely circulated in the community, but so far the perpetrator has remained on the loose.
The Lo-Down, a community news blog that is co-sponsoring the event, said that residents will have the chance to air their concerns about safety in the neighborhood and that experts will be on hand to offer advice on preventing future attacks involving children.
The blog also created a Facebook page to provide updates on the forum and a place for participants to contact the event’s organizers.
The forum is set for Sunday June 6, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at the Educational Alliance’s Mazer Theater, 197 E. Broadway.
