BROWNSVILLE, Brooklyn (WABC) — An 83-year-old woman says a simple greeting led to a violent attack outside her Brownsville apartment building Sunday morning as she waited for an Uber on her way to church.<\/p>\n
Betty Ellerbe said she noticed a man loitering near Glenmore and Christopher avenues before he suddenly slashed her in the neck.<\/p>\n
“I looked at his hand and saw the big stick and I looked at his face and then in the other hand a big knife,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ellerbe said she had tried to be friendly.<\/p>\n
“He passed by me and I said hello to him,” she said.<\/p>\n
Moments later, she was bleeding through her white church suit and struggling to understand what had happened.<\/p>\n
“I was dazed like shocked. I couldn’t say nothing because there’s so many people out there you don’t know who to trust,” she said.<\/p>\n
She said the attacker swung at her neck twice.<\/p>\n
“He didn’t knock me down because I kept standing up and that’s good,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ellerbe was taken to a hospital, where she received stitches. She said she considered asking the man why he attacked her but feared the consequences.<\/p>\n
“He would have killed me,” she said.<\/p>\n
Police arrested 36-year-old Shawnee Moore about an hour and a half after the assault. Officers said Moore, who they described as homeless, faces charges including assault and endangering the welfare of an elderly person.<\/p>\n
Ellerbe, who lost her husband and whose sons are grown, said her faith remains her anchor.<\/p>\n
“I’m a church person you say hello to people who pass by and whatever – I gotta be strong keep my head up keep the faith,” she said.<\/p>\n
Despite the attack, she said she will continue to show kindness to others.<\/p>\n
———-<\/p>\n
* More Brooklyn news<\/a><\/p>\n * Send us a news tip<\/a><\/p>\n * Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts<\/a> <\/p>\n * Download our connected TV app<\/a> <\/p>\n
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News<\/p>\n