A New York City man on Tuesday claimed credit for helping nab a suspect in the knifepoint rape of a 13-year-year girl -- saying he attacked the man without warning after recognizing him in images and video released by the police.
"I punched him. I kicked him," Jeffrey Flores told NBC New York, according to a video clip posted on social media. "He didn't see it coming."
BREAKING: We spoke to the #Queens man who recognized and physically restrained the alleged rapist, Christian Geovanny Inga, overnight. Jeffrey Flores says he saw the NYPD flyer and quickly identified the suspect, who he says frequents a bodega in Corona, Queens. @NBCNewYork pic.twitter.com/NPDKvOrEtM
— Melissa Colorado (@melissacolorado) June 18, 2024
Flores said the man didn't deny being the suspected rapist but "started yelling 'Help! Help! Help!' in Spanish."
"I'm like, 'Yeah, that's what the little girls were saying,'" Flores said.
Flores said he acted because "I got two little sisters and I'm about to have a daughter."
"So, like, for me, it did not sit right," he said.
Flores told the New York Post that he knew the man regularly shopped at a deli in Queens and "waited the whole day to see if he would come up. He came at night."
Flores said several other vigilantes helped him subdue the suspect, who the Post said was tied up with a belt after the beating.
Police Commissioner Edward Caban said during a Tuesday news conference that "our city was united in getting justice for the victim and her family," leading to an arrest around 1 a.m.
Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny identified the suspect as Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, 25, and said he would be charged with a laundry list of crimes including rape, sexual abuse and kidnapping.
Kenny said Inga-Landi was of "Ecuadorian descent" and multiple news accounts described him as a migrant who entered the U.S. in 2021.
He's accused of using a machete to force the 13-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy into a wooded area of Kissena Park in Queens on Thursday afternoon.
Inga-Landi allegedly tied the kids' wrists together before sexually assaulting the girl and then stole their cell phones.
Kenny said the Inga-Landi waived his Miranda rights and made incriminating statements during questioning, including that he had a drug problem and that "this was the first time he had ever done anything like this."
