A 32-year-old Lacey woman reached out to The Olympian this week after she read about a woman in west Olympia who was attacked by a man while walking home from work on Saturday, June 4.
The same thing happened to her and on the same night, the Lacey woman said. Lacey police later confirmed the incident and are investigating it, Sgt. Shannon Barnes said this week.
The woman, who works at a South Sound Shopping Center retailer, decided to walk home after work for the exercise, she said. After her shift ended at 9:30 p.m., the woman headed east, then turned south onto Golf Club Road.
She headed south on Golf Club Road toward a crosswalk at Pacific Avenue. It was there that she saw a man standing at the crosswalk, as if he was getting ready to cross the street, she said.
However, he didn't move, so the woman decided to go ahead and cross. It was then that the man came up behind her and grabbed her backpack, spinning her around. He then punched her in the mouth. She pushed him back and he took another swing at her, hitting her in the eye.
She then started "screaming bloody murder," she said, and ran all the way home to her residence in the area.
The woman reported the incident Sunday because she struggled to process what happened to her Saturday night.
"I was so shaken," she said, adding that her anxiety was so bad that she was hyperventilating and could barely talk. "I don't know what his plans were for me."
Around the time the Lacey woman was attacked, a woman was walking home from her restaurant job in west Olympia when she was attacked by a man in the 2200 block of Ninth Avenue Southwest.
Although the incidents are similar, police do not think they are related because they happened within minutes of each other, Sgt. Barnes said. The Lacey woman was attacked about 10:15 p.m., followed by the woman in west Olympia about 10:20 p.m., she said.
The Lacey woman described her attacker as a white man in his 30s with a slim build, who last seen wearing dark clothes and a black cap. She also said he had thin lips and a pointy nose. He was carrying a white bag.
As part of the Lacey police investigation, police shared a photo of the possible suspect with other law enforcement and that produced a name, Sgt. Barnes said. They plan to share that information with the woman to see if she can positively identify the man, she said.
