A Contra Costa County woman is shaken after getting
violently attacked by a homeless person as she was out for her morning walk in Martinez
earlier this week.
“I don’t cry easily but this is definitely making me cry,”
said Mary. “I was afraid he was going to stab me or kill me.”
Mary, 65, was on a walk Sunday when she said a homeless
man, who appeared to be arguing with himself started chasing her for no reason.
“Then my knees gave out and I stopped and tried to
protect myself,” she said.
She said the man started punching her in the back as she
tried protecting her head.
“I was freaking out screaming at the top of my lungs,”
said Mary. “I thought for sure he was going to stab me.”
Martinez police are now looking for suspect Gabriel Edi, a
transient they said he has been arrested before on drug charges.
“We’d like to get him off the street and he should be held
to answer to why he did this,” said Mike Estanol from the Martinez Police
Department. “He currently lives between three different cities Martinez,
Pleasant Hill and the Concord area.”
Assaults at the hands of homeless people struggling with
mental illness seem to be happening more and more often. Attacks have been
caught on camera in Southern California and in the Bay Area.
“I think there needs to be help. These people need to get
help something needs to be done to get them off the street,” said Mary.
Luckily some Good Samaritans scared Mary’s attacker off
before she was badly injured, but she wants others to be aware and on guard.
“Be careful be aware and I guess don’t assume they’re not
going to come after you,” she said.
Source: NBC Bay Area
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