There is a mood in Brownsville that something untoward happened in Osborn Park two weeks ago. Also self-evident is the feeling that the alleged rape at gunpoint by five teenagers that outraged a city and made headlines for days probably did not happen exactly as reported.

“I think the D.A. has been prudent in trying to figure out what happened,” Ken Montgomery told the Amsterdam News. The lawyer for the 14-year-old accused suspect blasted the media and law enforcement for rushing to judgment in the case last week.

Although the story has been changing since the initial report, and despite the community’s rancor that the NYPD took three days to inform the community about the alleged assault, prosecutors maintain that on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, at 9.30 p.m., five teens, one armed with a gun, came upon a man drinking in the park with his 18-year-old daughter. The charges are that the 14- to 17-year-old suspects threatened the father with the gun, forcing him to leave, and then raped the young woman. The father went to at least one bodega to telephone for help, but the worker in the store said he appeared drunk and never said his daughter was being attacked. He was not allowed to use the phone.

The father eventually found two cops in a patrol car and went back to the park with them. The five teenage boys were gone. His daughter was taken to Kings County Hospital, where she was treated and released. After a video surfaced of the suspects in a store was aired Sunday, and the immediate community outrage, three of the suspects turned themselves in and the other two were apprehended.

The story they told was different.

They claimed, reports state, that they happened upon the father and daughter engaged in sexual intercourse. Two of the teens also participated in the act after asking. A cell phone video purportedly shows the young woman smiling and the teens asking if they can get involved, too.

Police have not recovered a gun.

Defense attorneys said the lack of a gun and the video prove that the rape allegations are false.

With shades of the world-renowned Central Park 5 exoneration case influencing some of the conversations, the lead counsel in that case, Attorney Micheal Tarif Warren, told the Amsterdam News, “This story had troubling elements from the beginning that I think should have raised alarm bells immediately.”

Warren, who also represented Tupac Shakur in an alleged sodomy case in 1994, added, “Where there is any case of criminality, there must be a complete investigation. This young lady is a victim regardless of what really happened. She is one of us, she is part of our community and we love her. But, in the interest of justice, there must also must be an admonishment that we should not rush to judgement, even based on understandable concern. The investigation must look into all of the elements, the allegations and background of all of those accused, but also her father and his relationship with his daughter. I think that it is good that D.A. Ken Thompson has decided not to indite in the case, and to continue the investigation.”

Thompson’s office has said that they will wait until July as they continue the investigation to announce whether they will indict in the case.

“It is standard, as a matter of law, that there is a six-month time period, and then it may be dismissed,” Montgomery said.

Asked if he was optimistic, Montgomery replied, “We will see.”

All but one of the five suspects were released Tuesday, Jan. 12, after a couple of days in jail. The fifth was held on an outstanding unrelated warrant.

“Because we are determined to get to the truth about what happened in that park, we need more time to investigate this complex case and gather more evidence,” Thompson told the paper. “So, therefore, we have consented to the defendants’ release.”

Asked if the father’s DNA had been taken with regards to the suspects’ alternative version of events, a spokesperson for the police department said, “You need to contact the Brooklyn D.A.’s office.”

A spokesperson for the Thompson’s office told the Amsterdam News, “All aspects of this case are under investigation, and we will evaluate every piece of evidence.”

“We are really concerned about the alleged rape in Osborn Park,” Brooklyn Councilwoman Inez Barron told the Amsterdam News. “Elected officials meet with police officials to clarify the protocol in place when a crime of this magnitude is reported to them. As further details emerge, we are hopeful that those who perpetrated a crime be brought to justice, and if there is no substantiation of a crime, that they receive clearance of the charge. We are very concerned that all parties be treated fairly and receive justice in this issue.”

“We refuse to give up on any of these young people,” said A.T. Mitchell, CEO and founder of Man Up!Inc., an East New York/Brownsville activist group, who was among the first to question the story as headlines reminiscent of the 1989 Central Park Five case glared from front pages and led the news broadcasts. “Something happened in that park, but we’re saying that we must not rush to judgement and convict these young men,”

Mitchell continued, “Man Up! and Woman Up! Inc., have mentorship and support programs that we want to offer to all these young people involved. This young woman is definitely a victim, probably even before that day. I would be interested to see if her father gave DNA. He first said that she was lying dead in the park. We have to talk to these boys. This was a violation whether the young sister gave her consent or not. We must talk to her and support her throughout what she is going through. I’m looking at this like there is a total of six victims. Each one of these young people have, to varying degrees, have an issue in terms of behavior and how they see themselves. We can really help curb the way our young people see themselves in this type of situation.”