A Fayette County woman says she thought she was going to die after police say her ex-boyfriend broke into her home and attacked her with a tire iron just two days after filing for a protection from abuse order. 

“By the grace of God is the reason I’m here,” said victim Shannon Shields. 

In surveillance video, you can see Anthony Boyer walking down a narrow alley behind the Brownsville home just before 3 a.m. on Tuesday. You see him approach the side door in the driveway, try the handle several times and then begin to kick it. Moments later, the sound of glass shattering can be heard as he allegedly forces his way inside where Shields, her mother and son were sleeping.

Inside, investigators say Boyer pushed a couch in front of the door to block Shields from escaping. The investigators said Boyer used a tire iron and began hitting her in the head and face repeatedly and violently before turning on her mom.

“My mom was coming down the steps, she didn’t say anything at all to him and he just walked right up to her and punched her in the face and he broke her jaw in two places,” Shields said. 

Shields says her son woke up to the sound of the attack and sent a desperate text to her brother, pleading for help, who then called 911. When troopers arrived, they say they found Boyer hiding in a closet where he allegedly started a small fire before finally surrendering. 

“As long as we made it out of this house, that’s all that mattered,” Shields said. “Every ounce of clothing, food, furniture, anything in this house could have been gone and I would have been completely OK.”

After Boyer was in custody, troopers say Boyer admitted he thought Shields was dead and even made a chilling remark that he had people in Baltimore who would make sure she was. 

Boyer is now facing 50 charges, including attempted homicide.

“He can never touch me again and he can never do it to someone else. I hope what he put me through, he goes through for the rest of his life,” Shields said.

Boyer is being held in the Fayette County Jail without bond. His preliminary hearing is set for early next month.Â