A woman says she was assaulted and knocked unconscious in the middle of a grocery store.
Nia Jones is frustrated after she said several customers witnessed the attack at the Southaven Kroger on Goodman Road and Getwell Road, but never stepped in to help her.
Nia Jones was making a last minute run to Kroger for her Thanksgiving meal when she said she was beaten up and left unconscious on the floor.
Jones said a simple question caused her to be beaten.
Jones said it was the same question another shopper asked her earlier. Jones turned to her unsuspected attacker and asked if he knew how to make pumpkin pie.
“It’s a question. It’s a simple question. ‘Do you know how to make a pie?’ You’re on the baking aisle of Kroger,” Jones said.
Jones said the man gave her a strange look, but continued down the baking aisle screaming expletives.
“We were just talking amongst ourselves. The guy is still down the aisle going off,” Jones said. “I am not even talking to him, and he just comes back up and shoves my friend and the other lady into the shelves. And he turned around and sucker punched me.”
Jones said she was punched three times in the face and once in the chest. She said no other shoppers standing by came to her aide.
That’s something her mother can’t understand.
“How did they let this happen?” Jones’ mother Stacey Rochell asked. “If there was already a scene that was created, a commotion created. It was loud. Why didn’t someone address the gentleman at the time?”
The family also said no Kroger employees helped her before or even after the attack.
“I was irate because no one from the store, from Kroger, was by her side. It was just the police and paramedics,” Rochell said.
Kroger released a statement that said “we are working with the Southaven Police Department during this ongoing investigation.”
Here is the man police is trying to identify:
Southaven Police Department released a picture of a man they are calling a person of interest. Anyone who can help identify the person in the picture is asked to call Desoto County Crime Stoppers at (662) 429-TIPS (8477) or the Southaven Police Department at (662) 393-8652.
