Brooklyn, NY – New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday denounced the rape of a woman by five men at a Brooklyn playground, pledging police would work to swiftly apprehend the suspects in “this vicious crime.”

As reported earlier on VIN News, Police said on Saturday the men took turns raping the 18-year-old woman at the playground operated by the New York City Parks Department in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn just after 9 p.m. on Thursday. One man pointed a gun at the father and told him to leave, police said.

After the father left, the men each assaulted the woman, police said. They fled when her father returned a short while later, accompanied by two officers.

The woman was treated at a hospital and released, police said.

Police released surveillance video taken in a nearby bodega that they said showed the five suspects before the attack. The video depicts a group of black men in jackets and sweatshirts talking and laughing inside the store.

Police asked for the public’s help in identifying the suspects.

“We will take every step possible to find and swiftly prosecute the assailants of this vicious crime,” de Blasio said in a statement. “Every New Yorker in every neighborhood deserves to feel safe and protected, and we will not stop until the perpetrators of this disturbing attack are held accountable for their actions.”

De Blasio and his police commissioner, Bill Bratton, have faced criticism over the perception that major crime is rising in America’s most populous city.

Major crimes reported dropped 1.7 percent last year and by 5.8 percent since de Blasio took office two years ago. But some categories have increased, according to a report issued earlier this month. Rapes were up 6.3 percent last year.

CBS New York reports that others who gathered at the playground said they were not only upset it took two days to tell the public about the incident, but Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams wants to know how much time it took police to respond when the victim’s father summoned for help.

“There’s a missing piece to this entire incident that five individuals raped a person and there was a lapse in the response to come here,” Adams said.

There’s a $2,000 reward being offered for information in the case.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS, visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

As reported by Vos Iz Neias