I read this story in the Washington Post that took place in a mall I used to shop at when I lived in Fairfax during graduate school:
“A woman was slashed and cut in a Fairfax County shopping mall Monday evening in what may be the latest of a series of similar incidents, Fairfax County police said.
The woman, whose wound was not considered life-threatening, was cut about 5:30 p.m. in a store that caters to young women in the Fair Oaks Mall, said police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell.
The woman was attacked after her attention was drawn to the sound of a package dropped behind her, Caldwell said. The woman felt a sudden pain and turned to see someone walking away.
She had been cut on the buttocks through her jean shorts with a box cutter or razor, Caldwell said.
According to Caldwell, investigators have recently recognized a pattern of about four or five incidents similar to Monday’s that occurred in retail stores in the county in the last six months.
No description of the assailant was available in Monday’s incident, Caldwell said. But in previous incidents, the assailant was described as a Hispanic man about five feet six, in his late 20s to early 30s. Victims have all been in their late teens to early 20s, Caldwell said.”
Some guy with a box cutter is running around women’s stores in Fairfax slashing the backsides of young women?! What the hell?!
[Thanks MRH for the story tip]
Beckie says
Horrible. I hope he is caugh!!!
Jen says
Horrible. There was a famous case like this in England in the 18th or 19th century (I forget which), chronicled in a book called The London Monster. From what I remember, there seemed to be a good deal of public concern about more general street harassment of women at the time too.