STUART, Fla. (CBS12) — A late-night attack on a Stuart beach that left a woman unconscious in the ocean is raising new questions about immigration, public safety, and the justice system.

Authorities say the attack happened around 11 p.m. on Feb. 12 at South Beach in Stuart, after police received a 911 call from the victim’s husband.

During the call, the husband told the dispatcher the victim’s sister was on the phone with her and heard screaming before the line went silent.

“It sounded like she was fighting with someone, and then the phone went dead,” the sister said.

Deputies responded and found a woman who had survived what investigators described as a brutal, random attack.

The victim told investigators she had been walking on the beach while talking on her cellphone with her sister when she was suddenly grabbed by the throat, dragged into the ocean, and held underwater until she was unconscious.

Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek described the case as a random act of violence.

“Random acts of violence like this are some of the most difficult crimes to solve — and that’s exactly what this was,” Budensiek said.

Investigators later identified the suspect as Said Alexander Hernandez Gonzalez, a Venezuelan national who was living in Port St. Lucie. Budensiek said Hernandez Gonzalez showed no remorse when questioned. “When asked if he felt any remorse, his response was, ‘No. I don’t feel nothing,’” Budensiek said.

Hernandez Gonzalez has been charged with attempted murder, first degree.

See also: Sheriff: Undocumented man tried to drown woman at Stuart beach, believed he killed her

The sheriff’s office said Hernandez Gonzalez admitted he was on the beach drunk and high, believed the victim was recording him on her phone, and went into a rage.

Little more was released about his mental health, but investigators said his girlfriend told them she was afraid he was suicidal.

A Department of Homeland Security press release said Hernandez Gonzalez first entered the United States in 2023 “illegally,” but was later granted Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, under the Biden administration.

Federal defense attorney David Tarras said TPS decisions are tied to conditions in a person’s home country.

“Those were based on the socioeconomic conditions as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security from the United States at that time,” Tarras said. “Individuals who entered the US – even if illegally, meaning that they did not have any status or otherwise legal justification to behere – they were not to be deported if they received this temporary protected status.”

Tarras said when a country has a TPS designation, people from that country who come to the U.S. often receive temporary work authorization while they wait for their immigration case to be heard.

Budensiek said Hernandez Gonzalez’s work visa expired, and that DHS ended TPS for Venezuelans last October.

A Freedom of Information Act request was submitted seeking Hernandez Gonzalez’s immigration filings to better understand how and why he entered the U.S., including whether he was claiming asylum and whether he came through Mexico.

DHS had not responded to the request.

Hernandez Gonzalez remains in the Martin County Jail with a trial pending.

Tarras said defendants typically remain in the U.S. while an aggravated felony case moves through the courts.

“While the criminal case is pending – especially in the case of an aggravated felony, that person is going to stay — that defendant is going to stay in the United States and that case is going to play through,” Tarras said.

Tarras also said that if Hernandez Gonzalez is sentenced to decades in prison, he would be transferred to immigration custody afterward.

“If he gets 40 years – under the law, he serves 40 years minus whatever time he had in his credit – and then he’s immediately taken to an ICE facility,” Tarras said.

Hernandez Gonzalez was appointed a public defender, and a court date has not been set.