Police are searching for the man who assaulted a woman leaving a grocery store in Adams Morgan on Saturday night.
Silvia Murillo, 74, had gone to the Safeway on Columbia Road with a friend to pick up a few items. She said nothing was out of the ordinary until she was about to leave the store just before 9 p.m., when she felt a strong push on her back.
That’s when she said the assault began.
“It was very scary. I didn’t know what was going on. I thought it was somebody pushing a cart, that he pushed me by mistake,” Murillo said.
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She quickly realized the shove was no mistake. Murillo said after smashing into the window, the man continued to attack her.
“It was one after another. The punch, the punch, the punch – my back and pulling my hair,” she said.
Murillo said a few bystanders stepped in to help, and eventually the man ran away. But the damage was already done.
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“I thought about my son,” she said. “I thought I was going to die. I thought he was going to kill me.”
What’s still unclear is why Murillo was attacked: she said none of her things were stolen, and the police report obtained by News4 doesn’t mention anything about the man stealing from the store.
She said a few other customers told her the suspect was acting strange inside of the Safeway.
Though she’s thankful she didn’t break any bones, Murillo was hospitalized and is very bruised up. Doctors told her she tore a ligament in her knee, and now has to use a cane to get around.
“Thanks God I’m here. For being that old, I’m here. My son says I have nine lives,” she said.
Now, Murillo said she wanted to share her story to warn others.
“Even though I’m going through so much pain, I still have to be happy,” she said. “Like now, I’m very happy because I’m letting people know what’s going on.”
Safeway has not responded to a request for comment. The Metropolitan Police Department has not released any possible information on the suspect. Murillo said the man was about 6 feet and 3 inches tall, in his 40s with short hair.
