GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett County police have arrested a man whom they said broke into a woman's home and raped her.
The attack happened in a neighborhood off Buford Drive. Channel 2 Action News is withholding details on the location to protect the victim's identity.
Channel 2 has learned the suspect in the case has been arrested 16 times in Gwinnett County alone. Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh spoke a woman who said, after the attack, the man was at her back door.
That woman, who requested anonymity, said she awoke to tapping Tuesday night. She said she turned on an outdoor light and saw man on other side of her door.
"He was leaning with a bloody shoulder," she told Kavanaugh.
She identified the man as Marcus Terrell, of Lawrenceville.
"He kept saying, 'They're chasing me. They're chasing me. Please help me. Let me in,'" she said.
She screamed and called 911. She said police arrived in seconds and were already looking for him.
Police had received a report that a man broke into a woman's home off Buford Drive and raped her. Officers and canine units eventually caught Terrell, and it wasn't his first trip to the Gwinnett County jail.
"In and out several times between 2009, 10, 11, similar charges but he keeps getting out," the woman said.
Kavanaugh found Terrell's arrests date back to 1994.
He has been arrested on charges of DUI, public indecency, loitering, and child molestation. Records show the child molestation charges were dropped for a guilty plea to sexual battery in 2004. He received a one-year sentence.
"We're going to keep an eye on him," the woman said.
She and other neighbors are circulating flyers with Terrell's picture. She said it's a warning in case he gets out again.
"We're not going to be a victim in our homes anymore," the woman said.
Terrell has also been arrested several times in Dekalb County. Kavanaugh contacted the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office, but officials said they can't discuss his criminal history at this point. They said more details may come out at his preliminary hearing set for Thursday morning.
WSBTV
