A Memorial Day camping trip with friends turns into an unprovoked attack for a Scottsdale woman.
Lisa Sawyer left her campsite at the Wahweap Campground early Sunday morning to use a nearby restroom.
As she approached the bathroom, she heard a slight rustling but didn’t think anything of it.
Sawyer says all the stall doors were open when she entered. Suddenly, a man was attacking her, slashing and stabbing her with a knife.
Injured and angry she yelled at him to leave, which surprisingly he did, long enough to allow her to get back to her campsite.
The suddenness of the attack left her so surprised that she didn’t even realize she’d been stabbed in the head and the arm.
Her attacker took off.
Friend and fellow camper Charles Brown is an Army veteran. He grabbed his handgun and took off after the attacker.
Brown says the attacker saw him coming with a gun and ran back into the restroom. Brown kept him contained until a park ranger and Coconino County Sheriff’s deputies arrived.
Christopher Alcock, 22, was arrested for multiple counts of aggravated assault. According to the police report, Alcock said he “had been using but he had been trying to get off of it” and stated, “I was getting crazy and had one of my panic attacks like I used to.”
The Sawyers hope he gets the help he needs, but want him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Lisa Sawyer was treated for her injuries and is recovering.
