COLUMBUS – Columbus police believe a group of men has carried out three violent sexual assaults on the West Side in the past month.
The victim of the most recent attack was shot during the assault and was listed in fair condition.
The suspects in all three rapes were described as young and white, and one victim told investigators they drove a blue or black late-model vehicle, division spokesman Sgt. Dave Pelphrey said.
At 4:15 a.m. on April 18, a woman says she was approached in the 400 block of Brehl Avenue and violently assaulted at gunpoint by three men, Pelphrey said.
At 4:00 a.m. on April 24, a woman told police she was approached by two men inside a vehicle in the 2600 block of Sullivant Avenue and raped inside the vehicle.
Pelphrey says the men brandished a gun during the attack.
At 4:15 a.m. on Wednesday, a woman was approached by three men in the area of S. Burgess and Sullivant Avenues (see map), forced into an alley and raped.
Pelphrey said the woman struggled with her assailants and was shot in the abdomen. She underwent emergency surgery at Mount Carmel West Medical Center and is in fair condition.
Police originally believed she had been stabbed.
Police are asking anyone with any information to contact the sexual assault tip line at 614-645-4266, or Central Ohio CrimeStoppers at 614-645-4881.