PHILADELPHIA — A man sought for questioning in the rape of an 11-year-old girl was upgraded to stable condition Wednesday, a day after he was severely beaten by angry neighbors who recognized him from a photo distributed by police.

About a dozen residents of the city's West Kensington neighborhood pummeled Jose Carrasquillo, 26, for several minutes, police Lt. Frank Vanore said. Officers arrived and arrested him on an unrelated warrant.

Carrasquillo suffered head injuries and was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he was upgraded from critical to stable condition Wednesday.

No one has been charged in the rape. Police described Carrasquillo as a "person of interest" in the case and asked the public for help in finding him.

The assault happened Tuesday after neighbors recognized Carrasquillo from a photo distributed by police. Surveillance video shows a man being chased by at least three people, one of whom hits him several times with what appears to be a bat or large stick. As they chase the man, a crowd gathers. A police officer arrives, and the video cuts off.

Investigators said they would look at whether to file charges against any of the neighbors. None had been filed as of Wednesday afternoon, Vanore said.

The girl had just dropped off a sibling at day care and was walking to school Monday when a man approached her, investigators said. He started to walk with her, threatened her and said he had a gun. He took her to a nearby backyard and raped her repeatedly, authorities said.

Vanore said police did the right thing in publicizing their desire to talk to Carrasquillo. He noted he was wanted on a bench warrant and had 17 prior arrests.

"We've got an 11-year-old viciously raped," Vanore said. "We factored in a lot of things, and the biggest thing was to get this individual off the street."

University of Pennsylvania criminologist Lawrence Sherman said police did nothing wrong by releasing a detailed description and photo of a man who was not a suspect, saying, "I don't know that they had much option to get a hold of him in any other way."

But Sherman, director of Penn's Jerry Lee Center for Criminology, faulted citizens for taking the law into their own hands.

"We have a big enough problem of witness intimidation, let alone considering the risk we pose to persons of interest," he said.