2 women victims of unprovoked, unrelated attacks in Center City: Police

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police are investigating two unprovoked, unrelated assaults that happened on Friday in the same area of Center City.

"About four blocks apart, within 10 minutes of each other, two violent attacks on women by strangers," Summer Gillen, of Center City, told Action News.

Gillen said she was the victim in one of those attacks. She said it happened around 7 p.m. Friday as she was walking her friend's dog along the 300 block of South 12th Street.

"A man came up behind me and yanked me by the back of my neck really hard. And, he shook me and started screaming something, some kind of nonsense," she explained. "He punched me in the side of my head. I was wearing these glasses. He tried to rip them off the side of my face."

Gillen said her instincts kicked in and she fought back against her attacker.

"I punched him... just as a reflex, and then shoved him away," she said. "He kept coming back at me like as if he was going to fight me, fully fight me."

According to Philadelphia police, Gillen's attacker fled the area heading north on 12th Street. She said when she safely got inside, she called police.

On Saturday evening, she was able to speak with a detective and file a report.

Police said around the time of Gillen's assault on Friday, another woman was attacked a couple of blocks away on the 200 block of South 11th Street, right by Jefferson Hospital. In that case, police say the attacker was arrested.

As they now look for the man who attacked Gillen, her neighbors said they're concerned.

"Summer is not the first neighbor of mine who said that someone would come up and just be either an aggressive panhandler, which is one thing, but actually put their hands on them, which is another," Michael Flynn, of Center City, said. "So it's very scary."

Gillen said police were able to get a fingerprint of her attacker from the glasses she was wearing at the time. She also said they were able to capture a picture of the suspect from a traffic camera in the area.

As of Monday night, police said there has been no arrest at this time. They are still investigating.

"It's so unsettling, right? That someone felt they could invade your space like that and be violent with you," Gillen added.