A WOMAN is grateful to be alive after she was attacked and nearly kidnapped while unloading groceries in a Walmart parking lot.
Veronica Jones revealed that the man snuck up and grabbed her from behind as she unloaded groceries from her cart while shopping in Florida on Labor Day.
“Then, all of a sudden, someone came up from behind me and pulled me with his arms.” Jones recounted to CBS affiliate WKMG-TV.
“First, I thought it was someone doing a joke on me; I didn’t realize what was going on. Then, he said, ‘Give me your cash.’ Then, I knew, yeah, it wasn’t a joke.”
According to Jones, the man — who police later identified as 54-year-old Juan Perez — tried to force Jones into the trunk of her own car.
“Yeah, he was being very forceful,” Jones said.
“He said, ‘I’m going to slice your throat if you don’t stop struggling and give me your cash.’”
Jones also added that Perez allegedly threatened her with a sharp object.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Walmart for comment.
According to the outlet, Jones was saved when another shopper by the name of Elliot managed to intervene on the woman’s behalf.
Elliot said: “Making sure no one was behind me to brake and say, ‘Are you okay?’ She took — I could tell she mustered all strength to pull herself out of the trunk to say, ‘Help!’”
The man reported that Perez was very close to sealing Jones in the trunk when he approached.
“At the time that I passed by, he was, I could just see it, he was successfully about to get — her whole torso was in the trunk,” Elliot explained to Click Orlando.
“The only thing sticking out were her legs. Had he just bent them in, slammed, done in five seconds tops.”
Florida police have since arrested Perez on the charges of attempted kidnapping and theft.
The outlet reported that authorities tracked Perez down with the help of his probation officer.
Infomation that led to Juan Perez’s arrest
Florida Police managed to use a variety of ways to track down the alleged attacker.
Juan Perez, 54, was arrested by police shortly after he attempted to force Veronica Jones into her own trunk.
According to WKMG-TV, Florida police managed to contact Perez’s probation officer and get the GPS data off of his ankle monitor.
In addition to the camera footage at the store, it was enough for authorities to pick him up
Using a combination of the store’s surveillance footage and Perez’s GPS ankle monitor, police were able to put Perez at the Walmart at the time of the attack.
Perez was out on active probation after serving nearly 20 years for attacking and kidnapping a 14-year-old girl.
The man is currently being held in Orange County Jail without bond.
One former police officer weighed in on the situation.
“Once you start to unload those groceries and goods into the trunk of a car, you have a blind spot,” former Orange County sheriff’s deputy Jamie Copenhaver told FOX affiliate WOF.
“The only thing you’re looking at is that trunk, and you’re concentrating on hurrying up, and getting it loaded up, and getting home. ”
He finished: “We’re all in a hurry, but take a moment and pause… to look at who may be standing near you. Have an exit plan.”
