CHICAGO — An 11-year-old girl was sexually abused in an alley while walking home from school Thursday on the South Side.

At around 3:30 p.m., the girl was walking home in the 6200 block of South Indiana when an unknown man approached her. CPD said he then placed his hand over her mouth and pulled her into an alley where she was sexually abused.

At some point, the girl was able to break free and run away.

“You can’t give a child their innocence back and so we can’t stand for this,” said Bamani Obadele, a leader within the community organization Aclivus Inc. On Friday afternoon, members of Aclivus canvassed the block where the assault occurred.

Obadele said the girl’s mom was distraught. 

“I’m personally going to put up a $2,500 reward to find this guy and to have him brought to justice,” Obadele said.   

CEO of Chicago Against Violence, Andre Smith, criticized the city’s safe passage workers, a CPS program set up to place trusted adults near schools to help students to get home safely.  

“Why didn’t they make sure she got home safe?” Smith asked. “I’m so pissed. My question is, where were the safe passage workers and the term and the language is safe. Where were they? Because they failed this community.” 

Cecilia Butler, president of the Washington Park Advisory Council, rushed to the area as soon as she heard about the attack. 

“If young girls are being snatched like they are, unfortunately, we need help. We need to bring people out to walk with the young kids to their houses,” Butler said.  

Obadele says he’s adamant about ensuring the alleged sexual predator is caught as a father of girls and a Washington Park resident. 

“We’re going to do everything we can to work with the community to help catch this perpetrator and bring him to justice. That is a fact,” Obadele said.

The suspect is described as a Black man, 45-60 years old, 5’11” with a thin build and graying hair. Police said he was wearing a black shirt, black jeans with a silver belt buckle and black work boots.

Anyone with information can leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.