FITCHBURG, MASS. (WHDH) - A Fitchburg woman shared her story Friday after she said she was attacked in her home on Blossom Street by a man and a woman wielding a crowbar and a stun gun.
Melanie Russell said the attack happened on Thursday while she was in her room. She said her assailants burst through her front door and started hitting her.
“As soon as they kicked it open, it was like they b-lined because they could see me sitting,” Russell said. “…He actually pulled me up, threw me on the ground and he was punching me and I was being hit with a crowbar.”
“I would scream and then he would put his hand over my nose and my mouth and then I would rip his hand away so I could breathe,” Russell continued.
Russell was left with a broken eye socket, broken bones in her cheek, and possibly a fractured temple.
She said she had no idea what the man and woman wanted.
“He came close and he’s like, ‘Where is it? Where is it?’” Russell said. “And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’”
The only thing Russell could think of was an incident earlier this week when two men came to her apartment demanding a package.
Russell said she asked her attackers “Does this have to do with this package thing?”
“And I said ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “I don’t have no package.”
Russell said she does not know if the man who broke into her house was one of the people who previously stopped at her house.
But as she reflects on the incident, she said she thinks he was looking for the same thing.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to assume drugs because I can’t imagine somebody being delivered something like a shirt or something and coming in and doing a home invasion,” Russell said.
Though she has returned to her apartment, Russell said she is afraid to be there while those who attacked her are still free.
She is slow to open the door now, blocking the door with a bench while it is closed.
Asked if she is worried the man and woman who attacked her will return, she responded — “Of course.”
Russell said her landlord was at her apartment on Friday and discussed placing extra security on her door. She said her landlord also discussed adding cameras.
As Russell hopes to see her attackers captured, Fitchburg Mayor Sam Squailia shared an update on Facebook.
Squailia said the incident was targeted “and poses no threat to the general public.”
Squailia asked anyone with information about the incident to contact detectives at 978-345-9650.
7NEWS followed up with Squailia Friday afternoon. She said the police department has a lead in the case but is not making it public for the time being.
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