ABERDEEN, Wash. — A Seattle man was stabbed by a car prowler in the parking lot of the Aberdeen Walmart Sunday.
Officers said the attack occurred when a family returned to their vehicle to find a man inside.
It was the first Elizabeth Villanueva knew something was wrong. "I found my mom screaming," said Villanueva. "Call the police! Call the police!"
For a moment, she wasn't even sure what it was.
"I was in shock," she said. "I didn't know what to do."
Her husband had parked the car and gone into the store.
When he came out just a few minutes later, he went to his car and found someone sitting in the driver’s seat.
"My father-in-law, he was saying to him to 'get out,'" said Jefty Villanueva. “It was not his car."
But the 27-year-old suspect refused.
So they tried to force him out of the car. But he pulled out a knife.
"I didn't even feel it when he starts poking with the knife, he said.
The suspect managed to stab him in the leg and the abdomen, all while trying to get away. But Villanueva and his father-in-law held him down.
Then a good Samaritan joined them, until police could arrive a minute or so later.
"Anytime you confront a suspect in any type crime, you're taking a huge risk," said Aberdeen Police Lt. Kevin Darst.
And while he applauds their heroism, he doesn't recommend it.
"I would encourage people (to) be a witness," he said. "Don't confront these people. A lot of them are very dangerous. A lot of them are desperate."
"It hurts, my leg," admits Jefty Villanueva. "I can barely walk.”
But he says he has no regrets.
"No," he said. "It's because he deserves to be in jail."
He is expected to stay there at least until his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon.
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