'I was shocked': Video shows attack on Cambridge woman and her dog
CAMBRIDGE - A woman is describing the terrifying moments she was attacked by a masked man while walking her dog in her Cambridge neighborhood late Sunday night.
"His head was down, and he pushed me like this," said Randi, who didn't want her last name used.
The moment of horror was captured on a neighbor's surveillance camera. It shows the attacker pummeling her in the head while her 8-month-old cockapoo was yelping.
"I was just shocked by what he was trying to do, he had grabbed the leash and I was confused," Randi said. "I took my pepper spray out and thought he'd stop there."
But the attacker didn't stop, and in that moment her pepper spray didn't work and no one heard her screams. She was calling 911 on her cellphone before being knocked down and it took all her strength to fend him off.
"Just the screaming of my puppy, my motherly instincts kicked in telling me to save my dog," Randi said.
Video shows the man running off with the dog, then returning to grab her keys on the ground.
Jax had been able to break free from a pronged collar and took off through the neighborhood. That sent Randi running after the attacker, but she was already in pain with injuries to her leg and a concussion and couldn't keep up.
She's convinced he was trying to steal her dog.
This Cambridge woman was knocked to the ground and punched several times in the head before an attacker tried to take off with her dog. Her story on #wbz@5&6 pic.twitter.com/kmL9eX5DdI
— Beth Germano (@BethWBZ) December 9, 2022
"I was covering my face with my phone and he could have taken my phone," she said. "I had stuff in my wallet which he could have taken, but he didn't take anything."
For the next 15 hours Jax was on the run, ending up in a neighborhood several blocks away until Orianna Ott noticed the unfamiliar, frightened dog and took him in.
"When I found the dog it was shivering, huddled in a corner," Ott said. "It was clearly terrified and I had to coax it and pick it up. He refused to move it was so sad."
Now police are still trying to find the masked man they believe had been lingering around the street corner for at least an hour. Randi wants to know why.
"I hope and pray they catch him," she said. "I need answers for this."