A Port Charlotte woman said she was attacked Tuesday morning by a man with a gun in the Walmart parking lot on Murdock Circle.
Megan Adams said she had just parked her car around 10:30 a.m. when a man suddenly appeared at her door.
"I saw the gun in his hand, aiming at my rib cage area," Adams said. "I said 'I'll get out,' and he told me 'no.'"
She said when the man tried to get in the car with her, she fought back and actually managed to grab the gun away from him. But when he wrestled it back, she hit him in the face with the only thing she had in her hand - a lit cigarette.
"I took my cigarette and shoved it into the side of his face as hard as I could, and then he started running," Adams said.
She said the man ran across the street to towards the Busey Bank and Kane's Furniture store.
Charlotte County deputies eventually arrested Timmy Ray Hall, 57, behind a nearby Longhorn Steakhouse. He had changed his clothes, but otherwise matched the description they got from Adams. According to Hall's arrest report, he also had a fresh burn mark on his face.
Adams has a few cuts and bruises of her own from the struggle.
"I had a cut on my right hand, and my nail broke off extremely low so that was bleeding," she said. "I have a burn on my finger, and my ribs are bruised."
But she thinks the mental scars might take the longest to heal.
"I'm not afraid, but I'm uneasy and uncomfortable, and expecting to happen again," Adams said. "And that kind of pisses me off. I'm just angry right now...I honestly wish I could have done a lot more damage."
Hall faces multiple charges, including carjacking, kidnapping, and battery.
