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ROY — A Roy woman is recounting the moments she stood her ground against an attacker in a grocery store parking lot, taking steps to protect herself against a robber trying to stab her, and it may have saved the woman's life.
Soundra Fehr was putting away her groceries at the WinCo in Roy on Halloween night Monday, when she said a man approached her.
"He asked me very politely, 'Could you give me a dollar or five dollars?' And I said, 'I don't have any money at this time,'" Fehr remembers answering. She said the man told her to have a good evening and walked away. Fehr took note of the fact that she was the only person in the parking lot that late at night.
With the groceries loaded into the car, Fehr went to get into the driver's seat when she felt a presence behind her.
"And this guy came behind me, and as I was leaning into my vehicle and he said, 'Give me your money,'" Fehr said.
Turning around, she saw a long knife blade coming toward her, as the man lunged forward.
Shocked, Fehr didn't do anything at first. But when the man began to lunge at her a second time with that blade headed straight for her — Fehr's instincts kicked in.
She described realizing that the only thing she could do was use her voice against him.
"I had to do something to defend myself because it was a male with a weapon and it was just me," Fehr said. "So, I just screamed as loud as I could. I screamed so loud it freaked him out. I mean, he shook — and he took off so fast running."
Fehr scared off the man who tried to terrify her. Relieved, she quickly got in the car and locked the door.
But then Fehr realized she was bleeding.
"The jagged knife just went through," she said, pointing to the pad of her middle finger that is now bandaged where the knife slashed her.
But Fehr is glad that's all that happened, considering the man tried to attack her from behind.
"I said, 'Wow. This could have been so much worse,'" Fehr remembers thinking, as she sat in her car.
Police did arrest a man not far away, and charging documents said he was still holding the knife and admitted to asking Fehr for money. Police arrested 22-year-old Isaiah Camacho for investigation of aggravated robbery.
Fehr is now sharing a message to stay aware of your surroundings, especially when it's dark and no one is around like in her case. She urged women to use their voice like she did and be ready to fight back.
"This cut was a lesson for me," she said, "to be more vigilant."
