Miami Police said they arrested two men who raped a woman along with three other unidentified suspects.
The 19-year-old victim told police that she was walking to her vehicle that was parked near the LaundroMart at 279 NW 79th Street on Tuesday when she was approached by a dark vehicle occupied by three males.
One of them got out, pointed a black and silver handgun at her and ordered her inside the vehicle, police said.
They took her to an apartment13875 NW 22nd Ave., where one of the suspects told her that if she wanted to live she had to have sex with him and his “home boys,” police said. The woman was forced to have sex with the five suspects, and Hank Edwards and Eric Mitchell, both 18, later dropped her off at another location where Edwards robbed her at gunpoint, according to police.
The victim called police for help, and police later found that the silver Mitsubishi Galant driven by Mitchell had been stolen on Saturday, they said.
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Edwards and Mitchell fled the apartment but were quickly apprehended, police said.
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"it's very shocking. To know that just to walk from the laundry mat to your car, you’re not safe and three guys to do something like that, that’s ridiculous," said Mylissa Washington, a customer at the LaundroMart, on Wednesday night.
Edwards faces two counts of armed sexual battery by multiple offenders, one count each of armed kidnapping and armed robbery, and a warrant charge, according to online Miami-Dade Corrections records.
Mitchell faces two counts of armed sexual battery by multiple offenders, one count of armed kidnapping and a separate warrant charge, the records say.
It was not immediately known if either defendant has an attorney. Both were being held on no bond Wednesday afternoon, according to corrections records.
Doing laundry just feet away from where police said the woman was kidnapped made Washington and ohers at the LaundroMart think about safety.
"It terrifies me, because I mean, I just think about it now, I tell her be careful who you speak to, always try to walk with somebody. Never be alone,” Washington said of her daughter, standing by her side. “I tell her brother always keep a good eye on her because people are crazy, male or female, you can't trust them."
