A Florida woman is talking about the frightening moments she fought off an attacker in her apartment complex gym, and the whole thing was caught on camera.
“As soon as he was approaching me, I pushed him,” Nashali Alma, 24, said in a video posted to Instagram by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. “I said, ‘Bro, what the F are you doing? Get away from me. Stop trying to touch me.’ He started chasing me around the bench, and we ended up on the other side of the gym.”
Deputies were called to the Inwood Park Apartment Complex in Tampa to investigate the assault on Jan. 22.
“I was disgusted by the suspect’s actions, how he preyed on this young woman,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said. “I’m grateful that she came forward, I know her story is going to be an inspiration to other women.”
Surveillance video shows when suspect Xavier Thomas-Jones approached Nashali Alma in the apartment complex gym. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
Alma details in the video that she was exercising alone before she let the suspect into the gym. She told investigators she opened the door for him because he was someone she had previously seen in the gym.
As Alma continued her workout, the suspect, Xavier Thomas-Jones, 25, reportedly approached her and attempted to grab her waist. She yelled at him, demanding he get away from her, but he continued to chase her around the gym.
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Nashali Alma did not give up fighting her attacker, who was arrested the following day. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
Thomas-Jones then grabbed Alma and pinned her on the floor. She continued to fight him off while attempting to call 911. Eventually, he released his grip on Alma, and she immediately ran out of the gym to a nearby apartment.
Deputies were able to track Thomas-Jones down and arrest him less than 24 hours later. He faces charges of sexual battery, false imprisonment and kidnapping.
Court records obtained by FOX 13 Tampa show that Thomas-Jones lives at the apartment complex where the attack happened. Thomas-Jones allegedly admitted to restraining and battering Alma because he wanted to have sex with her.
Suspect Xavier Thomas-Jones, 25, faces charges of sexual battery, false imprisonment and kidnapping. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
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“My advice would be to never give up,” Alma says. “My parents always told me in life, to never give up on anything and that’s one thing I always kept in my mind when I was fighting him.”
