Fort Worth Attack Victim Still Hospitalized, Awaiting Heart Transplant
UPDATE: On July 30, the child received a heart transplant and is recovering.
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Three months after a brutal attack on a little girl that left her in the hospital, Fort Worth Police announced the arrest of a suspect.
Meanwhile, the 12-year-old girl, Dorika Uwimana, who was attacked is still fighting to recover from the April attack that left her in a Fort Worth hospital. Her father says she's awaiting a heart transplant after the attack. Police say she wasn't sexually assaulted, but that didn't lessen how brutal the attack was.
"She's a fighter; she's a survivor," said Fort Worth Police Detective Pat Hemz. "I think her faith, the faith that her family has given her, the support that she has had is what kept us going on this case. She was an inspiration to find a (resolution) to this case."
The attack happened on April 19. The victim, a refugee from Congo, was walking to school in west Fort Worth. That's when her father, Twizere Buhinga, says a man approached her.
"He told my daughter, 'I need help.' My daughter said, 'Right now, I go to school but I can give you help. Which help you need?'"
The victim's dad says she was choked, man-handled and forced to the ground. She was able to get away. The family says they've been living in fear, not knowing who the attacker could be.
"Right now, I feel good because I was scared too much, but now I feel good because the bad guy over there," said the father of six.
Buhinga says he doesn't know the man arrested by police, Terry Wayne King, II.
Police say King lived in Fort Worth four to five years and moved right after the time of the attack to Oklahoma. He was taken into custody in Oklahoma City. Police say they're additionally concerned because King is a truck driver, meaning there could be other victims in other locations.
The one thing police don't know if why he attacked her and what his intention were. Fort Worth Police say they're reaching out to other law enforcement agencies to see if he's connected to other crimes.