Two dozen Clayton County police officers are knocking on doors at a College Park apartment complex in an attempt to find information about an armed rapist.
Police Chief Jeffrey Turner said he dispatched the extra officers to The Woods on Garden Walk Boulevard Tuesday after a woman reported she was raped at gunpoint by a masked man there.
Police said the attack, which occurred Saturday, is one of seven similar crimes against Clayton women since December. The attacks have occurred at apartment complexes in College Park, Jonesboro, Morrow and Stockbridge, Turner said.
In two of the attacks, the attacker raped the resident at gunpoint. In the other five, he ejaculated on women and then forced them to wash off the DNA before he left, police spokeswoman Lt. Rebecca Brown said.
In all of the attacks, the women woke up to find the man inside their apartment. Police believe the intruder entered through unlocked windows and doors, Brown said.
Police have no DNA and the only description is for a black male, Turner said.
That’s why police are hoping the extra officers can find someone who might have seen something suspicious at the complex over the weekend, Turner said.
Tuesday’s extra patrols are part of Clayton’s Target Enforcement Area initiative known as Operation TEA Party. The operations is aimed at deterring crime by saturating problem neighborhoods with detectives, narcotics agents, patrol officers, animal control units and code enforcement officers, Turner said.
“We have officers on foot, meeting residents and trying to find anything suspicious in that complex,” Turner said.
Turner said the majority of the apartment complexes are gated and the suspect likely had to follow a resident on to the property.
“Residents need to be aware of their surroundings and not allow strange vehicles inside the gates. One car at a time,” Turner said.
Since releasing news of the serial attacker on Monday, police said they have heard from numerous alarmed residents. Turner said he hopes the extra patrols will prevent “a panic situation.”
“We’re trying to reassure folks that we are looking into the situation and will leave no stone unturned,” he said.
The manager at The Woods complex declined to comment Tuesday.
Anyone with information about the attacks may contact Detective Eskew at 770-477-3786.
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