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http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dw....a3a18879.htmlDallas rape suspect beaten, shot in melee
04:26 PM CST on Saturday, February 9, 2008, By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
[ Shows a pic of an apartment door, with the caption: "People at the apartment complex are refusing to talk about the incident." ]
A mob turned the tables on a man accused of raping a mother at knifepoint in her Red Bird-area apartment with her children present, authorities said.
The 26-year-old man, who had not been identified, was undergoing surgery Friday afternoon after being beaten with a baseball bat and shot at least twice, apparently once in the head.
"I would have to say this is unusual," Lt. Sally Lannom, commander of the assaults unit for the Dallas police, said of the melee. "It is outside the norm."
The mother, who didn't know her attacker, was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital. Her condition was unknown.
At the apartment complex, only one woman was willing to talk about what happened.
"He got what he deserved," Sharon Ivy said. "You don't go into [a] house ... do things to [a] momma and think it's all right. That was just a community watch."
According to police, the man forced his way into the 22-year-old woman's unlocked apartment in the 1400 block of West Wheatland Road around noon. Five children, some of whom belonged to the woman, were in the apartment at the time, police said.
"The suspect forced her into the bedroom and started tearing her clothes off," Lt. Lannom said. He then sexually assaulted her, police said.
Some of the children fled the apartment as the assault was going on, police said. When the man laid down the knife and began getting dressed, the woman ran out of her apartment to tell her boyfriend, who was in the parking lot with several friends, police said.
"She told him what was going on," Lt. Lannom said. He and his friends confronted the suspect in the apartment and a fight ensued, she said.
Police said the fight spilled out into the parking lot, with an unknown number of people taking part in the melee. The suspect eventually broke free and ran into another apartment, where he was shot. He did not live in that apartment, but it may belong to a relative, police said.
The melee that followed the assault was under investigation, and it was unclear Friday whether charges would be filed.
