A suspect has been arrested after a woman was attacked and sexually assaulted while walking along Shady Grove Road in Rockville, Maryland, early Thursday morning, police say.
The woman was walking on a sidewalk on Shady Grove Road between Key West Avenue about 6 a.m. when the suspect went up to her, pushed her to a grassy area along the road and started to sexually assault her, Montgomery County police said.
A passerby who heard the woman's screams ran to help her and the suspect ran off, according to police.
Police arrested 34-year-old Mahoumon Todomaey and charged him with first-degree rape. Todomaey also faces two charges of attempted second-degree rape in connection to assaults that happened in Gaithersburg Thursday night, police said.
"I'm hearing this happening in Montgomery County so often and it's not ... a safe place and, actually, I'm really worried about that," resident Sankar Ganapathy told News4.
News4 spoke to some women who say they work in the area and walk along the same sidewalk to get lunch every day. Others said they come to the area for meetings or doctors appointments.
"I will definitely park closer to - as close to the building as possible and I always will be alert and watching who is behind me, in front of me, beside me," Olympia Kocielski said.
Police are asking anyone who has any information to call 240-773-5400.
