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Left: Said Alexander Hernandez Gonzalez (Martin County Sheriff”s Office). Right: Tiger Shore Beach in Stuart, Florida, where Hernandez Gonzalez allegedly tried to drown a woman (Google Maps).
A woman taking a solitary stroll on a beach in Florida came perilously close to drowning when a man allegedly attacked her without warning, submerging her head underwater until he believed she was dead.
The suspect, 26-year-old Said Alexander Hernandez Gonzalez, faces charges of first-degree attempted murder. According to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, the incident unfolded around 11 p.m. on Thursday at Stuart’s Tiger Shore Beach. More details can be found on their Facebook page.
The situation came to light when a man reported a disturbing incident to the police. He explained that he had been on the phone with a relative when he suddenly heard her screams. The call was abruptly cut off, and his attempts to reach her again were unsuccessful.
Approximately 20 minutes later, officers discovered the woman who was clearly traumatized, visibly shaking, and had noticeable marks on her neck. She recounted that she was walking along the beach while on the phone when an assailant approached her from behind.
“The attacker pulled her hair, grabbed her by the neck, and forced her head underwater, preventing her from breathing and causing her to ingest seawater,” the police reported.
He also allegedly chucked her phone into the water. The victim said she had seen a man who she believed was her attacker about five minutes before the incident but could not identify him due to the darkness.
“The subject rolled her onto her face and placed his full body weight on her head with one hand while striking her repeatedly with elbow strikes to the back of her head and the left side of her face with his other hand,” she said.
She said the suspect did not say anything during the attack and she believed she may have lost consciousness at some point. The next thing she remembered was crawling out of the ocean. She ran back to her car, where she found deputies.
On Sunday, cops in nearby Port St. Lucie began investigating a mental health crisis incident involving Hernandez Gonzalez, who said he killed a woman by drowning her, according to the affidavit.
In a post-Miranda interview with cops, Hernandez Gonzalez said he was at the beach on the night in question when he saw a woman walking alone along the shoreline talking on the phone. The suspect said he didn’t plan on attacking anyone but he was feeling suicidal, per the affidavit. He allegedly attacked her from behind, threw her phone in the water and began choking her.
They began to struggle and the victim yelled “who the f– are you?” That’s when he allegedly began holding her head underwater.
“Said stated the [victim] eventually stopped fighting, and he believed she died,” cops wrote. “Said stated ‘I thought that I could not stop right now’ because he had gone too far, so he started choking her until she stopped moving.”
Hernandez Gonzalez said he moved her body with his foot to confirm she was dead and left her along the shoreline before walking back to his car, according to cops.
When asked if he felt bad about what he allegedly did, he said “No, I don’t feel nothing,” which he felt was a “problem.”
Cops arrested the suspect and took him to the Martin County Jail where he remains without bond. Authorities say he is an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela.