Charges filed in attack on woman targeted twice by same armed robbers within minutes

Charges have been filed in an attack against a woman who was robbed on the street in Jefferson Park, then beaten again minutes later when the robbers returned after she sought help in vain from passing motorists and a CTA bus driver.

Sharron C. Powell, 22, was arrested in Schaumburg last week and charged with robbery with a firearm, aggravated battery and aggravated unlawful restraint.

He was among several people who police say jumped out of a car at Lawrence and Lotus avenues around 4 a.m. on Jan. 29 and attacked the woman as she walked to catch a train to a restaurant where she worked.

One person struck her twice in the back of her head with the butt of a gun and told her “give me everything, your coat, cell, money, credit cards,” according to a police report.

The robbers were “laughing while this all happened,” the report said.

As they sped off, the woman tried to flag down a bus and two cars, but no one stopped. The robbers then circled back to get her to unlock her phone and hit her again.

Powell is accused of hitting her with a stun gun during the first attack, ripping her pants and telling her he would rape her, according to officials. When the robbers returned, Powell hit her again in the back of her head, according to court records.

Powell was ordered detained in Cook County Jail. His next court hearing is Thursday.

The woman told the Sun-Times she can’t stop picturing the faces of her attackers and can’t shake the feeling of a gun pressed against her head.

“I still have fear. I have them in my head every day,” the 34-year-old woman said in Spanish. “I look normal, but I’m not; this is a difficult situation.

“I thought they were going to kill me when they came back the second time,” she said.

The woman said there was only one thing on her mind as she was being attacked: “I only thought about my girl.”

Her daughter is 12.