DETROIT – Detroit police are investigating two robbery and sexual assault incidents that happened in the same area of the city Thursday night.
Police released sketches of the men Friday evening.
Deputy Chief Charles Fitzgerald said the incidents happened in the 13000 block of McNichols Road between 10 p.m. and 11:40 p.m.
A 22-year-old man and 21-year-old woman were confronted by a group of six men who forced them behind a building, Fitzgerald said.
At gunpoint, the victims were robbed and stripped of their clothes -- the man was also forced to watch the woman be sexually assaulted by the group, Fitzgerald said.
The second incident mirrored the first, and involved a 19-year-old woman and 21-year-old man. They were also forced behind a building and the woman was sexually assaulted, Fitzgerald said.
The victims have all been treated at a hospital.
Fitzgerald called the crimes "horrifying." He couldn't comment on a motive, but said police think the incidents are related.
The only other details were that a blue steel automatic handgun was seen and the group may have been in a blue Ford Sedan.
Detroit Police believe that these incidents are connected to an assault and robbery that took place on July 11.
Around 2:40 a.m. that night in the 17100 block of Pierson Street, an 18-year-old woman was sexually assaulted and robbed while a 21-year-old man was ordered to ground forced to watch and then robbed.
"You try to teach people to walk in pairs and walk in numbers and they are," said Fitzgerald. "Then the male victim has to lay there and watch that. It's terrible."
Stay with Local 4 and ClickonDetroit.com for updates in this developing story.