Police in Berkeley are investigating a violent attack by a stranger on a woman inside her North Berkeley home on a recent Friday afternoon, authorities report.
No arrests have been made, but police say they hope the community might have surveillance footage or other information that could help solve the crime, which took place Nov. 22, nearly two weeks ago.
Berkeley Police spokesman Officer Byron White said the man went inside the woman’s home, in the 1700 block of Lincoln Street (near McGee Avenue), at about 1:30 p.m. that day. Police believe he may have crawled through an open window to get in.
The woman told police she had heard her doorbell ringing but ignored it, White said in a prepared statement. Soon afterward, she was walking inside her home when she discovered the stranger there.
The man lied to the woman and said he was a handyman for the landlord. He initially asked the woman to “lead him around the house,” police said. Then he attacked her.
“At one point, while dragging the victim inside the house, she was being choked and could not breathe,” according to the police statement. The woman sustained head injuries during the beating.
The man threatened to harm the woman further and demanded her property. After taking it, he shut the woman into a bathroom and fled. After he left, the woman ran to a house nearby and called 911, White said.
Police said the assailant was described as a black man in his 50s who was 5 feet 9 inches tall with a medium build. He was wearing a white T-shirt and brown pants and had a gray do-rag scarf on his head.
White said officers responded quickly to the area but could not find the man. An investigation to identify and arrest him is underway.
Police ask anyone with information about the incident, or surveillance footage that may have captured the man in the area, to call BPD robbery detectives at 510-981-5742.
