Police: Suspect stabbed one woman, punched another in Brooklyn
NEW YORK -- Police are searching for whoever stabbed an 18-year-old woman in broad daylight in Brooklyn, then punched another woman nearby.
It all happened on Wednesday near Bleecker Street and Central Avenue in Bushwick.
CBS2's Tim McNicholas spoke to the 18-year-old, who was in the hospital Wednesday night, recovering from surgery.
"I just still can't believe that it happened to me," she said.
The victim, who did not want to be identified, says she was just walking down the street when a stranger lifted a sweatshirt, revealing a knife, then charged at her.
"He grab my hair and he pull me over to the ground, and at that time, I just started screaming like help, for help," she said.
The man took off, and then she realized she was bleeding. The man had stabbed her twice in the stomach.
People from the neighborhood surrounded her and tried to comfort her as she cried.
"I just thought I was about to die, and I told myself, I just have so many things to do. I have so many dreams to do, and I just can't die," she said.
The victim says she and the attacker did not exchange any words before the stabbing.
Police say about an hour later, the same suspect also punched a 35-year-old woman in the face just a couple blocks away near Grove and Central.
The man was dressed in all black and had a beard.
"He did it before. He's gonna do it one more time," said Rafael Figueredo, a lifelong friend of the 18-year-old victim. "Hopefully, police officers can find this guy. The person who did this needs to pay for what he did."
The 18-year-old just moved to New York from Venezuela about a year ago, in part to get away from crime.
"My dreams was living in the big city, living the American dream, and you never thought these things are gonna happen to you," she said.
The 18-year-old victim, who says she also broke her ankle, is expected to make a full recovery.
The suspect has not been located.