CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. - Sheriff deputies arrested Tyler Shepard for his attack on a pregnant woman inside a Publix Wednesday afternoon. Shepard's blows severe enough to send the woman and the unborn child to an Englewood hospital.
"It's horrible. I'm very dismayed to hear that," Barbara Underwood, a Publix shopper, said. "It seems to be a sign of the times," she added.
According to the arrest report, the two shopped inside the grocery store. Investigators said Shepard went for her purse and the victim tried to stop him. Shepard punched her in the face and ran away with the purse.
"I'm surprised the guy walked out of here," Randy Hanzel, another Publix shopper, said.
Hanzel and other Publix shoppers said they would've stepped in if they saw the attack in person.
"I'd like to think I would've done something like clobber him with my purse," Underwood said.
Sheriff deputies caught up and arrested Shepard. He faces an aggravated battery charge on a pregnant person. Shepard's punch was severe enough to break the victim's nose.
"You're a real coward," Underwood said. "Did it take that to make you feel like a man?"
