Employees at downtown Decatur businesses are on high alert after a female owner was beaten up and robbed as she was locking up.
The owner of Dos Madres Cantina told Channel 2’s Rachel Stockman she is still shaken up about what happened to her last weekend. She says she locked up the restaurant on West Ponce de Leon Avenue in Decatur and was walking to her car when she was attacked in a parking lot. She says the attacker pushed her to the ground and hit her from behind while she was lying facedown on the ground.
On Sunday night at the snowball business next door employees were on edge, even though it’s a spot frequented by police and firefighters.
“I didn't want to be here at night again,” said employee Shakai Perry, who says she was there the night the attack happened.
Another employee told Stockman he thinks the man is watching and targeting people closing up their businesses.
The city of Decatur sent out a notice to all businesses in the Decatur area warning them about what happened and telling employees they can always call the non-emergency line for police presence when they are locking up after hours.
“We always walk two to a car, and if we are ever the least bit uncomfortable Decatur police offers support,” said Victoria Lane, who works at JavaMonkey. “It’s awful. Decatur is a really close knit community and I feel like we’ve been making big strides (toward being) safer and this feels a lot like a setback.”
“I will be taking extra precautions and looking out for the area. I personally feel protective of this building as a work place,” said employee Daniel Rodda.
Many residents say they feel very safe walking around.
“I do think of it as a safe place but unfortunately we do occasionally have things like this happen that does disturb our sense of security,” said Abby Nelms, who grew up in Decatur.
Police do not have a suspect in custody. They say he was wearing all black and had a mask so you could only see his eyes.
