ORLANDO, Fla. – A Central Florida woman who said she was chased by a man with a large knife described to Local 6 how she escaped.
Jennifer Manosh said she had just finished work around 1 a.m. on Wednesday at Joe's Crab Shack on Semoran Boulevard when she saw a man hiding in the bushes across the parking lot. She ran to her car, and he jumped up and ran right at her with a knife in his hand.
"Absolutely, clearly calculated," said Manosh. "He was wearing dark clothes. He was carrying a knife that doesn't fit in your pocket. He was sitting in a bush directly in front of a door of a restaurant."
Manosh thought she was safe once she got inside her car, but she said that's when the man slammed the butt of the knife against her window, trying to break the glass.
"It was when he hit my door when I realized, 'This is it. Something bad is happening.' It was terrifying," said Manosh. "At that moment, it was like react now or die."
Frantic, she honked her horn over and over until he backed off and she could drive away. But with the man somewhere nearby, workers still inside were trapped.
"It was absolutely terrifying," said co-worker Chelsey Murphy, who gathered other remaining workers to make sure doors were locked as she called police. "Almost like this boogeyman underneath the bed."
Police searched the area, but found nothing. Officers continue to patrol the parking lot around the restaurant and other businesses nearby are on alert.
Managers at Joe's Crab Shack have taken extra steps to keep their workers safe. They're not letting workers walk out the doors alone and are trying to add more lights outside, said Manosh.
Manosh said she was able to clearly describe what her attacker looks like, even though he was wearing all black -- a black hoodie, dark jeans and black shoes -- in a darkened parking lot.