A Mundelein woman going to school in Minnesota has a quick-thinking friend to thank for saving her life after she was attacked by a robber early Monday morning.
Alex Maple and her roommate were walking near the campus of the University of Minnesota just after midnight in what's considered a safe neighborhood on a busy street.
Surveillance video captured a man passing the two on the street and suddenly changing direction to pursue them. The man threatened the pair with a knife before putting Maple's roommate in a head lock.
"She tried to get away, and he ended up stabbing her in the back and then proceeded to stab the other female (Maple) in the arm," Minneapolis Police Sgt. Jessie Garcia said.
The man ran away, but Maple was bleeding so profusely that her roommate instinctively reacted and created a tourniquet for her arm until paramedics arrived.
"She pulled off her shirt and put it around her friend's arm, basically saved her life," Garcia said.
Maple's grandparents, who live in Mundelein, told NBC 5 that the attacker slashed her arm so deeply that it punctured her brachial artery, a major blood vessel. She's suffering from nerve damage and having trouble moving her fingers.
Her parents immediately rushed to Minneapolis to be at her side. It's feared that the wound could leave her with a permanent physical disability.
Police are still looking for Maple's attacker in what they're calling a random act of violence.
