An 18-year-old male is accused of pulling a 10-year-old boy from his bicycle and raping him in a Southwest Philadelphia house last week.
Police arrested Walter Vicks on March 26 after neighbors contacted them with reports of a child’s screams coming from inside a home at 1600 S. 56th St. Vicks attempted to flee into a back alley but police apprehended him. He was treated at Mercy Hospital of Philadelphia for injuries he received while trying to escape and then taken into police custody.
Vicks is charged with rape, aggravated and sexual assault, false imprisonment, corruption of minors and 10 other related offenses.
The 10-year-old was transported to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in stable condition. Police spokesperson Officer Jillian Russell was unsure if and when the child was released.
The boy told police that he had an early dismissal at school and was riding his bike at about 1:40 p.m. around the Kingsessing neighborhood when Vicks dragged him at knifepoint into the second-floor bedroom of the house, which was being renovated.
Neighbor Lonnie Mitchell said he could hear the assault through the walls of the rowhome.
“I told [police] they have to hurry and get in because he’s doing something to that little boy and it’s not just rough-housing,” Mitchell told CBS 3.
Police scaled the house and broke through an upstairs window.
Mitchell said that shortly after police arrived, the boy ran out the front door naked, repeatedly yelling, “He raped me.”
“It was horrific,” Mitchell said. “It was nothing you’d want to see ever.”
Russell said there was no indication that the teen and the child knew one another.
Vicks lives near 19th and Oxford streets in North Philadelphia.
A preliminary hearing in the case was scheduled for today.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].