Teen Recovering After Being Stabbed While Walking To School In Corona
CORONA (CBSLA) — A 16-year-old boy and his friend were walking to school Nov. 6 in Corona when a man armed with a knife started stabbing the teen.
After a week and a half working to regain his strength in the hospital, Roman Villasenor was able to go back home with staples on his stomach and sutures on his neck — reminders of the attack by a man he said has been harassing his family for years.
"I can't even, like, be out," Villasenor said.
The teen is too traumatized from the attack to leave his house.
"He's waking up at night, crying," Viviana Rios, Roman's mother, said. "He's shaking."
Rios said she was familiar with the 32-year-old man police arrested for attacking her teenage son at a bus stop in Corona. She said she filed a restraining order against Eduardo Penaloza Olivo, her neighbor, three years ago after he intentionally broke her car windows.
"No, we don't know why," Rios said. "That's why we call him the crazy guy."
Rios said Olivo has since harassed the family around town. She said she believes he waited at the bus stop to attack her son when he was walking to school.
"We were walking by, and he was like,' You got a problem,'" Villasenor said. "And I was like, 'I don't got no problem with you,' and he threw the first swing, and I guess as I was fighting, I was getting stabbed, but I didn't feel it."
Corona police said they charged Olivo with attempted murder for the attack and a felony probation violations for the previous incident with the family.
"It was a nightmare," Rios said. "I want him to pay for what he did."
Rios has missed work to take care of her son and has began falling behind financially. She said her insurance company cannot get her son in to see a therapist so he can start to heal from the trauma emotionally until the end of January.
"I like doing stuff on my own, but getting help and stuff frustrates me," Villasenor said.
A family member has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of medical care and bills as Villasenor continues to recover.