61-year-old woman stabbed, robbed outside Queens pizzeria speaks out
ELMHURST, Queens (WABC) -- A woman is speaking out after she was attacked and stabbed by three men over the weekend outside a pizzeria in Queens.
Eun Hee Chang, 61, is proof, it's not about the size of the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog.
Chang was robbed and stabbed in her back and yet, she went back to work the very next day.
Speaking in Korean, the home health aide says she needs to work to survive. She says she feels perfectly fine.
In fact, when she was stabbed, she says it felt like instead she was punched.
She says after her bag was stolen, she ran to the Queens pizzeria because she's a regular customer and she knew the father and son owners.
That father and son then chased her assailants and detained two of those suspects until officers arrived.
But it was in that scuffle the father was stabbed 9 times. The son was stabbed once. And that's when Chang says she too was stabbed once in her back.
Chang says she didn't even realize what had happened until she went straight home after being attacked, and her superintendent noticed she was losing a lot of blood.
Meanwhile, the heroes, 68-year-old Charlie Suljovic and his 38-year-old son Louie Suljovic, both suffered collapsed lungs.
The attack happened Saturday night in Elmhurst, Queens.
Surveillance video shows the three suspects following the victim pushing a grocery cart.
Police arrested 30-year-old Robert Whack and 18-year-old Supreme Gooding. They are still looking for the third suspect.
In what is common Korean cultural behavior, Chang is blaming herself.
She tells Eyewitness News reporter CeFaan Kim that the street was narrow and perhaps it was her fault because she got in their way.
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She doesn't even want to attend follow up appointments with doctors and police because it'll get in the way of work.
She says it's been difficult.
Hailie Kim is with the MinKwon Center, a community organization advocating for victims.
"We can't isolate these incidents. We have to see the bigger pattern which is that AAPI violence, violence against our community has gone up about 360% within the last two years," Kim said.
Chang meanwhile says she is scared to step outside now. But more than fear, she's overwhelmed with gratitude to Louie's Pizzeria.
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