Despite an uptick in officers on North Park's streets, a sixth attack in the area was reported Thursday night just hours after a police-hosted event.
The community event brought San Diego officers and community members together at Oregon Street and Howard Avenue to walk neighborhood streets earlier that afternoon. At the time, North Park resident Celeste Martinez said the event brought her some relief since the attacks started in June.
“This evening’s walk made me feel so much, so — I get goosebumps talking about it. I feel so good, so comfortable and so safe," she said late Thursday afternoon.
But much to Martinez’s shock, just six hours later, Mid-City Division Police Capt. David Nisleit said another attack was reported.
"We got a radio call of a female screaming. When we got there — we got there very quick, we had officers in the immediate area, we were there within about a minute," he said speaking from his office Friday afternoon.
"There" was in an alley near the 3900 block of Idaho Street, only a few blocks away from where Nisleit met neighbors Thursday to kick off the community walk. It was also not far from scenes of five other attacks.
The victim reported a man knocked her down from behind, Nisleit said. Her screams alerted residents in the area and the suspect ran off, he said.
The incident comes more than a month since the last attack was reported. It's unknown if Thursday's attack was related to the previous assaults in the area.
Nisleit said he's working closer with the community and keeping officers on overtime in response to the attacks. Prior to Thursday's incident, he had attributed the five-week lull to these tactics. He said the series of assaults are unusual for the normally safe neighborhood.
"Talking to the sex crimes unit, this seems to be one in itself, not tied to anything else that has been occurring or has occurred in the city," the police captain said.
According to department crime statistics, violent crime in North Park has actually declined since 2009. But for the first six months of this year, the neighborhood’s violent crime rate is double that of the entire city.
While the department has been vocal about its ongoing shortage of officers, Nisleit maintains staffing isn’t an issue when it comes to his division’s response to the attacks.
“I’ve got officers on foot, I’ve got officers on bikes I’ve got them in cars," he said. "You know, again, this attack happened in mere seconds in an alley, and unfortunately, even if I put 100 more officers out there, we can’t be in every single alley or on every single corner, and it's unfortunate this happened but I have a lot of confidence in what we're doing in response to these attacks."
The rest he said is up to the public. Nisleit urged residents to walk in groups, stay in well-lit areas and keep to frequently traveled corridors.
Police have not arrested anyone in connection to the attacks. The suspect in the latest attack is described as a Hispanic man, between 5-feet-6 to 6-feet tall with a normal build. He was wearing a red shirt and dark pants, SDPD said.
KPBS web producer Brooke Ruth contributed to this report.
