“Violence this senseless leaves scars far beyond the victim,” said Savannah Mayor Johnson, and this reality is still in shock from the effects of the acid attack that went on to leave 46-year-old Ashley Wasielewski fighting for her life.
“She doesn’t have any enemies. She is a friend to everyone,” Westley Wasielewski told the Associated Press. Just blocks away from the scene of Anti-Castro protests in which two University of Florida freshmen were injured and one was killed, Wasielewski was walking home from the Christmas program on December 10 when the attacker struck her on the outer sidewalk of Forsyth Park.
The culprit substance that caused these burns and was identified as an acid wound up giving Third Degree Burns to over 50% of her body parts, including her scalp, face, and legs. Additionally, her friends have noted that she will probably never regain her hair because her body seems to readily accept cadaver skin grafts. She currently is in stable health at the Augusta Burn Center.
The investigation is being carried out jointly by the Savannah Police Department and the FBI in what is a massive manhunt. To aid in their efforts, the FBI has put up a price of $5,000, which has since been matched by a contribution of $25,000 made by CEO Tyler Merritt of Nine Line Apparel, who stated that this was “It was a deliberate and senseless act that has left the victim and our community shaken.” Authorities have interviewed scores of witnesses and zeroed in on a male witness who has been termed the “Bugs Bunny guy” due to his appearance in security footage walking about in the vicinity of the park. He has since come forward and is no longer being considered a suspect. They are reviewing doorbell and security cameras about this time in the vicinity and are searching for information regarding a white SUV known to be in the vicinity.
In reaction to the attack, the police have increased the patrol presence in the area around the city parks “out of an abundance of caution,” although Police Chief Lenny Gunther quickly followed up with the statement that “We have no evidence that this is part of a larger pattern or that there is an ongoing threat to the public.”
The recent attack has reignited the community debate on the necessity for such things as call boxes in the pedestrian districts of the city of Savannah.
For those who reside there, as well as true crime fanatics, the randomness that has been imposed as a result of the attack has heightened their levels of anxiety. In fact, according to mental health professionals, even then, if one undergoes such a scenario indirectly, such responses get triggered. As per the National Institute of Mental Health, those who find themselves subjected to instances like violence tend to suffer from instances like anxiety, disturbances related to their sleep, or even intrusive thoughts.
Community leaders are asking that the community gets justice not only against the criminals but that there is an element of balanced justice that will help prevent such cases in the future as well. Community-based initiatives between the police and the community that are carried out by the community itself have been proven to increase the crime clearance rate and help the community develop such that witnesses will be motivated to provide information that will help solve such cases because the tiniest detail would still matter pertaining to the face and the car of the perpetrator.
