OAKLAND -- Allegations that several youths sexually assaulted a 7-year-old boy at a Boys and Girls Club in Oakland shocked staff and parents, and prompted a "high-priority" police investigation.
Officer Holly Joshi said the boy was attacked about 7 p.m. Wednesday by several other boys in a bathroom at the Ossian E. Carr Branch at 8530 International Blvd.
Joshi said there are five suspects, all younger than 12. She did not say whether the victim knew the boys or if they were members of the Boys and Girls Club.
The single-story club was open Thursday with children playing inside. A few parents dropped off their children.
A man who identified himself as the director of the branch said the administration was waiting until the investigation was complete before commenting. Earlier, Oakland Boys and Girls Club President Calvester Stanley told reporters that staff had been unaware of the attack until after Oakland police were notified Wednesday night.
Police said the boy did not report the attack to the staff. Instead, he told his mother, who took him to Children's Hospital Oakland to be examined. The hospital called police at 8:50 p.m.
The extent of the assault is still unclear. Police obtained footage from a surveillance camera but did not offer details about whether they were able to identify any suspects. The bathroom is at the far end of a recreation hall with pool tables and vending machines.
There are three branches of the Boys and Girls Club in Oakland. They offer an array of services, from tutoring to sports programs.
Stanley told media members he once attended the Ossian branch, where such an assault had never happened before.
"We, by design, are in neighborhoods that are difficult to serve, as we historically have been," he told reporters. "I'd like to think I stand here in a large part because, in my youth, I was a club house member at that particular branch."
