San Diego

Woman Escapes Gasoline Attack, Machete-Wielding Man

A woman escaped a bizarre attack Sunday afternoon where a man doused her with gasoline, threatened to light her on fire and attacked her with a machete, police said.

The attack happened shortly before 3 p.m. in the 4000 block of Fairmount Avenue near Polk when the husband of one her friends accused her of stealing his watches, Brittany Gordon said.

β€œHe pulled a water bottle full of gasoline and drenched me with it twice while holding a lighter threatening to light me on fire,” she said.

Gordon then fled down an alley where her homeless friend pulled out the golf club and defended her, she said. The man then pulled out a machete and tried to attack her, she said, before leaving when she called the police.

Firefighters arrived, set up a make-shift tent and decontaminated her.

β€œI'm fine. It’s just ridiculous all this stealing stuff going on and people that are doing it themselves and blaming innocent people for it,” Gordon said.

The suspect was still on the run and facing charges of assault with a  deadly weapon, police said.

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