A young Cricket Wireless employee who was trying to help a customer was repaid with a horrific beating on Saturday.
The sickening attack occurred just after 5 PM, and was captured on surveillance camera at the store in Phoenix, Arizona.
The hard-to-watch footage shows the 22-year-old greeting the customer, whom she recognized from visiting the store several times before, with “How can I help you?” — when he unleashes the unprovoked assault.
“Uh, do you have…” he begins to ask, before swinging a punch at her head without warning.
The woman falls to the ground, screaming in terror and trying to protect her head, as he mercilessly rains down 15 more blows to her skull. At one stage he even picks up the victim’s dropped cellphone and smashes her in the head with this too, before switching hands to continue the assault.
He then stands up, stomps on her head seven times, kicks her in the head, stomps on her once more, before swinging one last hook into her bloodied face. Only then does he finally relent, and the whimpering victim is able to flee the store and summon help.
The suspect then casually walks into the back of the store, where police say he stole two phones from a safe before clearing out the register of cash and making his escape — the victim’s phone still clutched in his hand.
The woman meanwhile fled to the store next door, where Graciela Cejudo had already dialed 911, having heard the screams.
“You could hear the girl screaming; the truth is it was very, very loud, and I stopped and grabbed the phone,” Cejudo told KOLD.
“I was in shock; I didn’t know what to do,” she added. “She said just lock the door and call the police, and I grabbed the keys quick as I could. There was a customer coming, so I quickly locked it.”
Cejudo told the outlet she believed the man attacked the victim thinking nobody else was around, as the parking lot was empty.
“It was a very traumatic thing for me, because I was looking and I saw all the blood, her face was full of blood.”
While Cejudo’s store has protective glass between her and the customers, she told AZFamily she doesn’t think its enough.
“I don’t feel totally safe because I don’t know what these people are capable of doing,” she said.
Several hours after the attack, Phoenix Police posted an update saying the suspect, 33-year-old Michael Cook, had been arrested.
He is facing several felony charges, including robbery and aggravated assault.
The victim meanwhile miraculously escaped with a broken nose and stitches for a cut on her face.
She told detectives afterward that she recognized Cook from the area and believed he was homeless.
She said she had given him a government-paid phone in the past, and he had been into the store several times since then to report it stolen and get a new one.
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