At two in the afternoon last Wednesday, the young woman was walking to her car after having lunch at Applebee's Restaurant on the north side of the Commons Mall.

Halfway through the parking lot, as she approached her car, a man came up on her left side and asked if she could tell him the way to Godfather's Pizza Restaurant. Friendly and quick to help as usual, she turned towards him to offer directions.

That's when he abruptly grabbed a fistful of her fine brown hair and her left arm, and started dragging her.

She screamed and surprising herself, punched him the face.

Simultaneously, two bystanders saw the commotion and yelled at the man to let her go, which he did as suddenly as he had attacked, and ran off.

"He didn't go for my purse, which was on my other arm, and he didn't smell of alcohol. I can only assume he was trying to drag me to his car," the young woman told the Federal Way News after the attack, requesting anonymity in fear of reprisal from the unknown assailant.

A Federal Way resident for the past two years, the woman, 21, lives with her parents in an apartment not far from the Commons Mall. After the bystanders had comforted her and they all made sure the man was gone, she left her car in the parking lot and made a beeline for home to summon her father. The two contacted Federal Way police, returned to the mall and filled out a report at the police sub-station located in the Commons.

The FWPD are currently investigating the attack.

"He was about 35-40 years old, maybe 5'10", Caucasian and wearing a baseball cap. That's about all that registered with me, as I'm pretty shy and not very good with eye contact anyway. It happened really fast," she said.

Although the woman said that she has never had a problem at the Commons before, this is not the first time a resident has encountered danger there.

In 2005, according to crime statistics for the Commons and its immediate neighborhood, provided by the FWPD and available on the city's website, eight people were criminally assaulted, 46 vehicles were stolen, and 381 people reported some type of theft while shopping at the mall. There were also 14 burglaries and nine robberies.

"In recent months, we've started to make more reports on crimes at the Commons. An increase in case reports doesn't necessarily mean more crime, but we're keeping an eye on it," said Commander Kyle Sumtter of the FWPD.

Sumtter explained that the management of the Commons has a contract with the city and pays for the salaries of two full-time police officers to provide security. These two officers share the workload so that there is always one officer on duty for an early swing shift, from 11-9, seven days a week.

"We certainly do everything we can to keep it safe. Anywhere you have a large congregation of people, there will be crime," said Gary Martindale, general manager of the Commons.

Martindale said that the mall also has a contract with the Securitas Group, the largest provider of private security personnel in the world, with over $6 billion in annual sales and operations in 30 countries. However, Martindale would not disclose how much the mall pays Securitas to protect their operation in Federal Way, nor how many of that sub-contractors' personnel are on duty at any given time at the mall.

"If everyone behaves themselves, there won't be a problem," said Martindale.

Commander Sumtter offered more realistic advice for Commons shoppers.

"Try not to be alone, park where other people can see you, get your key in hand before walking to your car, and lock the vehicle as soon as you're inside," advised Sumtter.

The victim of last week's attack said that while it might be impractical for her to cease shopping at the Commons, she certainly would avoid unnecessary trips.

"I mean, it happened in broad daylight, and if it wasn't for those other shoppers, I'm not sure what would have happened."

The FWPD was unable to provide details on the exact location of the officer on duty at the time the attack last Wednesday, nor would Martindale disclose any information about Securitas personnel.

Over time, the mall has been the site of similar criminal activity, including the attempted abduction of a young woman by a man who parked a motor home in the lot and waited for a victim.