ST. LOUIS, Mo. (WSVN) — A woman who was raped and shot multiple times by a man she knew is telling her story in hopes of encouraging other victims to speak out.
The 31-year-old victim described the horrific ordeal to Fox 2. The woman said she was meeting her attacker, identified as 36-year-old Shawn Hughes, at his condo after they made plans to hang out. The pair knew each other from a bar where the victim worked. But she says he attacked her as soon as she walked through the door.
“He did what we wanted to do. I was fighting him, kicking him, scratching, but he just started beating me,” the victim said. “He knocked me out and continued to rape me.”
After regaining consciousness, the victim said she grabbed her gun and attempted to shoot Hughes. However, she said Hughes ended up shooting her at least eight times with his own gun before he ran away, leaving her for dead.
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The victim managed to get to the phone and call police before losing consciousness once more. She is now recovering.
Hughes was arrested and charged with rape, assault, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm. He’s being held on a cash-only bond of $500,000.
However, the victim said she believes there may be more victims because Hughes reportedly told her that he would do to her like he did the others.
“Tell your story. Don’t be scared. Don’t worry what someone is going to think about you because at the end of the day you’re still not healed when you’re holding it in,” she told Fox 2.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Hughes had previously been accused of kidnapping and raping a woman in 2013. He ended up pleading guilty to the lesser crime of felonious restraint and was released from jail in October.
Hughes had only been out of prison for five months at the time of the latest attack.
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