Atlanta

Video shows frightening moment thief breaks into woman's home, attacks her

ATLANTA — Police are searching for a man they say was wearing a medical mask when he broke into a woman’s home before attacking her.

It happened late Tuesday night on Gilbert Street in southeast Atlanta.

One minute, the woman was sitting in her living room, and the next, she was running from a stranger in her own home.

"All of a sudden, there was this guy in my kitchen standing there," the victim said.

The woman asked not to be identified as she shared how the burglar in her southeast Atlanta house attacked her as she ran for help.

“I unlocked the door and ran out. I put my first foot on the stoop, and he hit me over the head with something, and then I ran out screaming,” she said.

Channel 2's Matt Johnson got ahold of the doorbell camera video that showed the break-in unfolding.

In the video, you can hear the woman screaming for help.

"It was the scariest thing I've ever had happen in my life," the victim said.

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A neighbor spotted the burglar walking up his driveway.

"I kind of started yelling at him and chasing toward him, and that time he started running away," Zach Wollerson said.

Wollerson didn't know what happened to his neighbor, but he knew enough to chase the stranger out of the neighborhood.

"I was just thinking, 'Get this guy out of here.' I wanted to make sure my neighbor and my fiancé were safe," he said.

The victim said the attacker was tall and was also wearing a du-rag in addition to the medical mask. She believes he got in through an unlocked back door.

"My yard was all fenced in. He was going around, must be checking door handles," she said.

Atlanta police say they're chasing leads to try and arrest the man, who also stole a laptop and jewelry.

The victim said she has a knot on the back of her head, but she's not complaining.

"It could have been so much worse," she said.

A different neighbor said he spotted someone with a strange medical mask walking Tuesday on Ormewood Terrace, which is about a mile away.

Police were seen in the neighborhood Wednesday night patrolling while looking for the attacker.