'Is anywhere safe?' | Woman warns others to be vigilant after midday attack in DC

WASHINGTON — Cellphone video captured a woman being attacked on a Sunday afternoon just steps from the FBI building in D.C.

The video captures the tail-end of the assault just as the two suspect run to a waiting car in the intersection.

Piercing screams sliced through the silence of the Penn Quarter neighborhood Sunday afternoon.

Just after noon, Kate Rios was heading to a first date at Teaism on 8th and D, streets, Northwest. She was just steps away from the tea house when she said two girls, who looked like teenagers, walked up to her.

“I just can’t believe this happened,” Rios told WUSA9. “My mom wants me to see a therapist. I keep replaying it in my head over and over in my mind. I am so lucky, a part of me was like I don’t know if they were going to pull out a knife and stab me.”

She said they cornered her.

“They came out of nowhere, approached me really closely and cornered me to the building and said, ‘Can we borrow your phone to call my mom?” she recalled. “Instantly I was terrified and the girl looked at me and said, ‘We’re not going to do anything to you.”

But they did. Rios said they tugged at her cross-body bag so hard it knocked her to the ground. She said when the girls could not steal the purse, they began kicking her in the head.

“I was keeping my head covered as much as I could. I didn’t think anybody was going to come help me,” she said as her voice cracked with emotion.

But they did. David Del Terzo was one of a dozen people who ran to help after he heard Kate’s screams.

“Then we saw in between cars someone getting pummeled. Two women going at it with someone. I yelled 'hey' with deepest voice I could, and they looked up started walking away they got into a car which was slowly pulling up and as they got it in, which was pretty unsettling. They started laughing.

Rios says several witnesses called 911: One was hung up on and another was on hold for several minutes. Emergency crews and police eventually got to the scene, she said, an hour later.

“It was a little shocking the police response, but they got here and were very attentive when they did come to the scene,” said Del Terzo. “They (people/victims) need to have faith, whether it's law enforcement or the judicial system, especially when things like this are happening, is paramount. If we don’t have that faith, we don’t have anything.”

Rios, who lives in Virginia, did not want to come back into the District to speak with WUSA9 for this story because of what happened.

“I moved to Virginia, and part of that was my parents were like, 'We don’t want you to live in D.C.' I said it’s not that bad, I’m not out late at night, I’m never on Metro – I take Ubers home when it’s dark out,” she said. “I’m as cautious as I can be. Never in a million years I thought I would be heading to a first date and down on the street being kicked near National Mall. So, it’s like is there anywhere that is actually safe?”

Police continue to talk to witnesses and scour the area for surveillance video. If you have any information they want to hear from you. Rios said she has learned a hard lesson to be vigilant day or night and that you should not listen to music or be distracted when walking alone.