WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Five teens charged in rape and assault of girl

Five teens charged in rape and assault of girl

By Shayla Reaves

CLARKSVILLE, Ind. (WAVE) -- Five Kentuckiana teens are in jail charged with the brutal attack of a teenage girl. Police say it happened outside an elementary school in Clark County. WAVE 3's Shayla Reaves reports that school officials are talking about what happened to ease parent's fears.

Five 17-year-old teens face adult charges after an alleged gang rape on the Parkwood Elementary School grounds. It's a crime that happened two months ago at a school they are too old to attend. 

"We have no reason to believe that this is anything other than an isolated incident that occurred after hours and happened to occur on our school grounds," Greater Clark County Schools Superintendent Tony Bennett said.

Jacobi Hamilton, James Hollister and Anthony Redd are all in police custody. Two more teens are charged as juveniles in the alleged attack of a teenage girl behind the school.

"Parkwood Elementary backs up to a fairly commercial area," said Bennett."It's actually more of a product of the geographic location."

The school's backyard ends at a Clarksville business district. The giant field is a popular teenage hang out according to neighbors.

"It's a lot of kids that always play basketball," said nearby resident Fredrick Stone of the area behind the school. "But after dark it's just the older kids playing basketball."

It's after hours when Stone says the area isn't always well lit.

"Sometimes it's lights out there, but sometimes they cut the lights off so it'll be dark and you won't even be able to know if something was happening," he said of the area around the courts."You can see some lights around the rim so you can shoot, but everywhere around all the other places it is just dark."

School officials say they want Parkwood Elementary parents to be aware but not afraid for the safety of their children.

"We don't ever want to give parents cause for concern about the safety of schools," said Bennett. "What we want to say is Greater Clark County Schools take school safety very, very seriously. We will always cooperate with authorities and always do what we can to maintain safe schools."

Online Reporter: Shayla Reaves

Online Producer: Charles Gazaway