According to Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Lei Ogumoro, DPS received a call regarding the incident that happened outside New Fresh Market at 2:24 a.m.
Ogumoro said police officers who responded to the scene learned that the victim, a Korean, was already brought to the Commonwealth Health Center by a witness who saw her attacked by a masked man in the store’s parking lot.
Ogumoro said the victim’s head was bleeding and was unconscious.
A second witness said the victim was attacked in front of Hong’s Electric, next to New Fresh Market.
The suspect then ran into the grassy area across the road.
“The suspect fled the scene with the victim’s purse after hitting her on the head with a blunt object,” Ogumoro said.
She added that patrol officers later discovered “the brown purse belonging to the victim shoved into a patch of straw grass within the location where the suspect” was last seen.
Crime scene investigators also found a 2×2 piece of wood with blood stain on it.
Ogumoro said another piece of 2×2 wood was also found in the parking lot of the building next door.
Investigators confirmed that the wood was used by the suspect to attack the victim.
The victim suffered multiple complex lacerations to the back of her head, contusions and abrasions to her face and parts of her body.
Ogumoro said members of the community with information about this case are urged to call the Criminal Investigation Division at 664-9037/45/55 or the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 234-7272. All calls are kept anonymous and no caller ID is used. There is a reward of up to $1,000 for any information leading to an arrest.
