MIAMI (WSVN) - A Miami woman is speaking out days after she was ambushed by a man in an attempted robbery outside of her home, but she said her attacker got more than he bargained for when she screamed for help.
Speaking with 7News on Monday, Marta Orozco said she has a message for her assailant.
“You met the wrong person, OK? I’m from Nicaragua, and I’m not scared of nobody,” she said. “Only God I am scared of.”
The 56-year-old proved she’s a fighter when, she said, a man tried to rob her, Saturday morning.
Surveillance video shows the victim getting out of her dark-colored SUV in front of her home after returning from a nearby gas station.
“I go straight to my house, and I’m looking for my keys, and I think he watched me,” she said.
While she was at her front door, Orozco said she could feel someone behind her. Her surveillance camera recorded the stranger walking up to the property while carrying a cellphone.
“He says, ‘Excuse me. You don’t know what address this is?’ [I said], ‘No, it’s not here,'” said Orozco.
But the victim said the man insisted.
“I said, ‘No, sir. No, it’s not here because that’s my house,'” she said.
What the surveillance camera did not show was what happened next.
Orozco said she thought the man was going to her neighbors’ house, but he walked further down and peeked around the corner of her property.
“He does like this, and he comes back,” she said.
It was then that, Orozco said, the would-be robber made his move, zeroing in on her necklace.
“When I turned around, the guy was over here, and he takes my chain,” she said.
Once she felt his grip around her neck, Orozco said she fought back.
“He pushed me in the floor, and he starts to kick me,” she said. “He beat me, he hit me, he punched me.”
The surveillance video captured Orozco’s ear-piercing screams as, the victim said, she called out to her husband.
The victim said her husband and her neighbors heard her screams and rushed to help.
One of the good Samaritans was neighbor Vianca Ferrer.
“I saw him on top of her, and I just charged,” she said.
Ferrer said she kicked the man in the face, and then all of them chased him.
“When I kicked him, he basically got up, and that’s when he started running,” she said.
Surveillance video showed the subject suddenly jumping into the frame and running off, closely followed by Orozco’s husband and two of her neighbors.
Orozco said her takeaway from the frightening ordeal is the value of being a good neighbor.
“You’ve got to be good with your neighbor, because your neighbor is your family,” she said.
City of Miami Police said the attacker got away in a white Nissan parked on Northwest Second Avenue, near 30th Street.
Orozco is healing from scratches and bruises to her face, neck and back. She also showed 7News cameras her busted upper lip.
She said she wasn’t going to let anyone try to take advantage of her.
“He made me mad because I come in here to work so hard, and I do everything right, and that’s not fair, somebody coming and tries to take your stuff,” she said. “I sweat for that [chain]. You want one like that? Go work hard like I do.”
If you have any information on this attempted robbery or the man’s whereabouts, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.
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