A high school student was put under emergency detention Saturday for allegedly attacking three teenage girls in two days earlier this week, police said.
The 16-year-old suspect, whose identity was withheld, was suspected of breaking into a women’s restroom at a shopping center in the city of Hwaseong, south of Seoul, at around 9:50 p.m. on Thursday, and choking and attacking a teenage girl, according to the Suwon Seobu Police Station.
On Friday, the suspect allegedly used violence against another teenage girl inside an elevator in an apartment block in the adjacent city of Suwon at 9:05 p.m.
He then moved to another apartment building and allegedly assaulted a third teenage girl at about 9:50 p.m.
As the third victim lost consciousness, the suspect pulled her into an emergency staircase and ran away with her cellphone, the police said.
Police caught the suspect at around noon Saturday at a local internet cafe, and have carried out a probe into the alleged crimes, as well as into the chances of him co
nducting sex offenses against the victims.
The suspect is a high school student and has a track record of sex crime, officials said.
This image, provided by Yonhap News TV, shows police officers nabbing a criminal suspect in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Oct. 7, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Source: Yonhap News Agency