Police are keeping their investigation of a string of attacks on
random women at local Safeway grocery stores
”
active and open,
”
even though no reported incidents have happened since March,
according to Morgan Hill Police Cmdr. David Swing.
– Morgan Hill Times
Police are keeping their investigation of a string of attacks on random women at local Safeway grocery stores “active and open,” even though no reported incidents have happened since March, according to Morgan Hill Police Cmdr. David Swing.
“We’re still continuing to follow up on leads, and we are hopeful we’ll still identify the suspect,” Swing said. “Hopefully people will still continue to feel safe.”
He added that people should continue to be cautious and aware of their surroundings when out in public places, especially at night.
The same unknown man assaulted three different women in the parking lots of the two stores during a week in late March. In all three incidents the attacker targeted females who were alone, police said.
The first two attacks occurred in one night, from 11 p.m. to 11:25 p.m. March 19 – first at the Safeway at 840 East Dunne Ave. and then at the store’s 235 Tennant Station location.
In the first attack, the man attempted to enter the vehicle’s back seat, but the lone female driver locked the doors and drove away before he got in. In the second attack, the man was able to get into the back seat after following a woman to her car from the store’s entrance, and punched her and used a stun gun on her before a passing motorist startled him and he fled on foot.
About 9 p.m. March 26 the man struck again at the East Dunne store’s parking lot, climbing into the back seat of a parked vehicle to attempt an assault on the 18-year-old Gilroy woman who was alone in the driver’s seat. She attempted to defend herself with a pocket knife, but the man overpowered her and used the knife to cut her slightly before her screams scared him away.
The man is described as about 5-feet 10-inches tall, about 200 pounds, in his 20s, and of unknown race. No one has been arrested for the crimes.
A Safeway spokeswoman did not respond to a phone message requesting comment by press time.
The store hired additional security guards to patrol the parking lots following attacks.
