Victim In Brooklyn Hammer Attack Speaks Out As NYPD Searches For Suspect: 'I Want Justice Please'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are searching for a suspect wanted for attacking a stranger with what appears to be a hammer Brooklyn.
The terrified victim, who is named Rosa and speaks Spanish, told CBS2 via translator the attack came out of nowhere and has left her shaken. We are only using her first name to protect her privacy.
"Whenever I see a person near me I think they might try to attack me or something," she said.
She's now terrified for her safety.
"It was something terrible. I don't even understand how this could have happened to me," she said.
Originally from El Salvador, 38-year-old Rosa has been living in New York since 2003.
She says she was walking to work around 7 a.m. on Tuesday in front of 186 Wilson St. in Williamsburg when she was approached from behind by a man with a hammer and pushed to the ground.
"He wanted to take my purse, 'Give me the money! Give me the money!' But because I had important papers [in the purse], I wasn't thinking about my life in that moment," she said.
After she resisted, Rosa says the suspect struck her multiple times with what appears to be a hammer.
"I'm in a lot of pain, here and my back. He must have hit me really hard to throw me down in one go," she said.
She suffered multiple bruises and lacerations to her face.
After the attack, the suspect ran along Wilson Avenue toward Lee Avenue.
"It's scary. I'm shocked," neighbor Cheryl Gilliam said. "I walk here every morning. My son goes to school right there. I walk to go to the gym every morning. I never seen anything happen in this neighborhood like that."
"I walk around with my mace and I make sure I look around my surroundings," Gilliam added.
Rosa believes the suspect may have been following her before the attack.
"I want justice please. I'm asking that of the authorities of this country. I want to feel safe and know that he's been captured, and his motive: Why did he do this? I want to know. Why did he carry a hammer? Why? I didn't do anything to him, I'm not a bad person," she said.
She says she wants justice, and to know why she was targeted. She's pleading with anyone who knows anything to call police.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.