FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – A mother and her nonverbal autistic 12-year-old son were attacked from behind with a blunt object while walking to catch a bus in Fort Lauderdale Tuesday morning, leaving both injured and a stranger still on the loose.
The attack occurred around 7:30 a.m. in the 1000 block of NW 5th Avenue.
According to Fort Lauderdale Police, an unknown individual approached the pair from behind and struck them both. The boy suffered an abrasion to the face; his mother sustained a laceration to the back of the head.
Both were transported to Broward Health Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries and have since been released.
Outside their home, the mother told 7News she was trying to shield her son when the attack happened. She says the attacker directed words at the boy before striking them, words that made no sense to her.
“He didn’t say nothing, he just said ‘I told you not to come,’” she said, holding back tears. “I’m like why is he talking to my kid. He doesn’t know this kid. This kid is 12 years old. Regardless what size he is.”
She says she has no idea who attacked them or why, and the experience has shaken her sense of safety in her own neighborhood.
“Especially a nonverbal, disabled autistic child,” she said.
“This is a perfect stranger. I don’t feel safe walking out my house.”
The suspect fled before officers arrived. No description has been released.
Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.
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